Yume Mitai ni Kimi ni Deaeta Kiseki - SasukexOC
by dbswldnjs
Summary: All the girls love Sasuke Uchiha because of his good-looks and bad-boy attitude. Miku Tatsuki falls in love with the side of him that nobody else knows. Will Sasuke ever return her feelings? Or are they just foolish dreams? Does not follow storyline. SasukeXOC Rated M for safety purposes.
1. The New Squad 7

_ Miku Tatsuki was like the wind to everybody in Konoha. Present, but invisible._

* * *

'What am I doing?' she thought to herself, her hand hesitating on the door handle. 'It's not like anybody will notice me come in anyways...'  
Today was the day that all the new rookie's who had passed their assessments were to be assigned to a squad lead by a Jonin. Miku had passed her test with flying colours, as Iruka-sensei had put it, but nobody had congratulated her.  
Nobody even acknowledged her existence.  
It had always been this way, ever since Miku was 5. For some reason, everybody in Konoha seemed to ignore her.  
All the other children her age never wanted to play with her, or even look at her for that matter, and if they did it was to make fun of her. The adults just strolled passed her on the street as if she were nothing more than a leaf that has simply fluttered down beside them. She never quite understood what it was that she had done to deserve such treatment.  
As it turns out, Miku had done nothing at all to provoke the villagers. In fact, they weren't even aware that they were doing it. Miku was such a small, quiet girl who easily blended in with the background, that not a lot of people ever paid her any attention. In a way, she was sort of like a chameleon.  
Miku had tried working on it. She had tried to be more assertive, like the blonde ninja who was always being scolded by the adults, and she even tried being vulgar and obnoxious like the girl named Ino, who went through a phase of consistently taunting Miku about her blue hair. But nothing had seemed to work.  
Nothing attracted the attention of anybody.

So standing here, with her hand paused on the door handle in a nervous state, seemed utterly absurd. Didn't it? After all what was there to be nervous about, nobody would notice that she had even entered the room.  
Taking a deep breath, Miku twisted the door handle, and cautiously took one step inside of the classroom, preparing to be ignored.  
After two steps through the door, she had to duck to avoid a paper airplane from colliding with her face.  
The entire classroom was in complete chaos.  
Genin were throwing paper airplanes and wads of gum at one another, two boys had actually broken out in a full-on brawl on top of some of the desks, and there was an entire pack of girls shouting something that sounded like "My sauce! Get away from my sauce!" and judging by the venomous looks in their eyes, they were not happy with one another.  
Miku swallowed her nervousness and continued into the classroom. She kept her eyes down, trying not to look at anyone else in the room, especially not the mob of angry girls. She did allow her eyes to lift up for a split second to scan the room for an empty seat, and she found one, but it was located beside the "sauce" that all the girls were shouting about.  
Sasuke Uchiha.  
There was another empty seat however, but it was located in the center of all the angry girls just a few feet away, and Miku decided to play it safe and take the one next to the renowned Sasuke Uchiha.  
When she took her seat, as expected, he didn't look over or even acknowledge that anyone had sat down beside him. Miku had sat as far away from him as the seat would allow. She was practically slipping off the edge, and her body was angled in such a way that she could almost hear her spine screaming in pain. But she kept this pose, trying not to offend the Uchiha by sitting too close.  
Even though nobody seemed to pay her any attention, she was aware of few people in the village.  
She had heard Ino and a pink haired girl conversing with one another about how "hot" he is and how much they want in his pants, which wasn't very helpful information to say the least. She did however, manage to eavesdrop on a conversation between two jonin about how strong he is.  
Apparently, he's the rookie to beat.  
Miku grew very uncomfortable with the way she was sitting, and began to grow inpatient. She was praying that Iruka-sensei would show up soon so she could give her back a break. (Let me give your back a break, give your back a break, there's just so much it can take, let me give your back a break~)  
She had tried switching positions a few times, and even twisted her body at a different angle to try and make herself more comfortable but it only made a very gross cracking sound which made her feel sick to her stomach.

"You can sit like a normal person. I won't bite you." A very handsome voice spoke from beside her. (I find Yuri Lowenthal's voice very sexy.)  
Miku turned to see Sasuke, still in his original position, looking at her from the corner of his eyes. She had seen him plenty of times, but had never heard him speak. His voice was just as attractive as he was.  
"Oh... Okay, thanks I guess..." She said, giving him a small nod, before moving over to sit in the seat properly. Miku had left enough space for two people to sit between them, just to be polite, but she was extremely happy to be able to sit like a normal person. Her back was now singing with joy.  
Sometime during her short conversation with Sasuke, the angry mob of girls sat down in the seats across from them and were now glaring daggers, swords, kunai and other various sharp objects into the side of Miku's head.  
All this attention was a little overwhelming for her, so she shifted her long, thick blue hair to her right side to create a sort of barrier between them. Even though she couldn't see them, she could still feel the heat from their intense stares through all of her hair.  
The door suddenly opened, causing the classroom to quiet down, and Iruka-sensei came in, holding a thick stack of papers.  
"Good morning class." He began, with his usual cheerful grin. "I can see that you're all a rather impatient bunch, Kiba, Naruto, please stop fighting each other and take your seats please, now, where was I.. ah yes. I'll cut right to the chase."  
Iruka-sensei began listing off the names of who was in what group. After a while, Miku heard her name being called.  
"Squad 7: Miku Tatsuki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki."  
As soon as Miku had heard these names, she knew she was going to have a tough time trying to make it as a ninja.

* * *

Miku knew very little about her three teammates.  
Sasuke Uchiha was a prodigy, as was mentioned earlier. Sakura Haruno was the leader of the "Sasuke Fan Club" and was also a childhood tormenter of Miku's. Naruto was constantly getting himself in trouble somehow, and spent most of his life being scolded or punished by the Third Hokage.  
She knew at once that she was going to be the "fourth wheel" and probably excluded from the group after the first week.  
Soon, all the other genin had filed out of the classroom except for squad 7, as their jonin was late.  
Three hours late to be exact.  
Naruto kept himself busy by boobytrapping the front door, and various windows around the room incase the jonin decided to make a unique entrance. Sakura was yelling at him as if she were his mother, while pausing occasionally to hit on Sasuke or to glare at Miku. Sasuke was completely uncaring, leaned back in his chair with his arms folded acrossed his chest, while Miku sat in the seat beside him with her hands nervously folded in her lap.  
Nobody had really spoken to her the entire 4 hours they were alone together. At one point, Naruto came over and looked her right in the face with a look of total confusion, and asked her why she looked scared of everything. Sakura had done nothing but sneer at her, and Sasuke just kept on being Sasuke.  
About 20 minutes had passed before the door to the classroom finally opened. It all seemed to happen in slow motion..  
The eraser, slipping from it's spot on top of the door frame and colliding with their sensei's head. Naruto's insane laughter and the completely appalled looks of Sakura and Sasuke. The hate-speech their sensei gave them after he recovering from what happened.  
Let's just say, their sensei does not like his new genin very much.

After an embarrassing first encounter, and much apologizing on Naruto's behalf, they all met on the roof of a building overlooking a forest.  
"So." the jonin began. "Tell me about yourselves."  
"Like what, sensei?" Sakura asked. "What do you want to know?"  
"Your likes an dislikes. Hobbies, and dreams for the future. That sort..." He said, his only visible eye half-open in a lazy way. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere **_but_** here.  
"Why don't you start?" Naruto suggested, sounding pretty annoyed. "Give us an example, sensei."  
Their sensei let out a deep sigh. "Fine. My name is Kakashi Hatake. As for my likes and dislikes... well, I don't feel like telling you those. My dreams for the future... I never really thought about that. As for my hobbies? I have lots of hobbies."  
Naruto and Sakura completely blew up over their new sensei's lame attempt at introducing himself. Miku just shrunk back, trying to blend in with the roof and become invisible. Sasuke just kept on being Sasuke.  
"Right. You with the bright blue hair, you can start." Kakashi-sensei said, completely ignoring Naruto and Sakura.  
Miku felt a heavy nervousness well up inside of her. This was the first time anybody had actually taken the time to speak more than a few words to her, and now she was required to do the same.  
"Well..." She squeaked. "My name is Miku Tatsuki. I like um.. tea and training, and I also like to swim. I don't like.. I really don't know what I don't like. My hobbies are singing and, maybe training too. As for my dream for the future... I guess I don't know that either. Maybe, I want to gain more self-confidence, and have.. people actually notice me for a change."  
She had said the last part very softly, but everybody had heard her as if she stood up and shouted it across the rooftops.  
'Somebody else like me..' Naruto thought sadly, seeing the way her blue eyes glazed over with sadness as she spoke. 'Maybe, I should be nicer to her.'  
'What a weirdo. My Sasuke would never like her, such a freak.' Sakura thought, making unpleasant faces in Miku's direction.  
'What is she going on about?' Sasuke wondered to himself, leaving his thoughts at that. Sasuke Uchiha was far too proud to waste his time thinking about others, unless he was comparing himself to them.

Kakashi-sensei made a sort of "hmm" sound with the back of his throat while staring intently at Miku. "You're a Tatsuki, and yet you haven't drawn on your powers yet." He stated, scratching his chin.  
Miku flinched and averted her gaze while the other three genin focused their attention on her out of curiosity.  
"What do you mean Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, pretending like she actually cared.  
"The Tatsuki's are Konoha's oldest clan, and are rumoured to actually be the first clan to take refuge here. Their kekkei genkai is a legendary one at that, and only few women have been known to posess it. Their kekkei genkai is called the "Kyumeigan", which literally translates into "Life Saving eyes." They are Konoha's second most powerful clan, the Uchiha's being the first and the Hyuga's being the third." Kakashi-sensei explained, refusing to take his eyes off of Miku. "They also excel in elemental-style jutsu. Am I correct so far?"  
Miku nodded her head, and began fidgeting with the hem of her kimono.  
"However, most of them were either assassinated or murdered throughout the years, leaving only a handful left, am I still correct?" He continued.  
Miku felt unbearable sadness creeping up inside of her.  
"Actually, sensei." She began, holding back the river of tears that threatened to fall. She couldn't risk crying in front of her new team. "I'm the only one left now."  
All eyes were on Miku once again.  
"Up until last year, it was me my father and my aunt. My mother was murdered by her brother and my father had grown so depressed after my mother's death, he took his own life. My aunt packed up afterwards and moved away leaving me behind.." She trailed off at the end, unsure of what to say. She didn't think anyone was listening, or that anyone even cared.  
Little did she know, the two men of her squad were feeling a sort of connection with her at that moment, because they too have been through similar experiences and share the same pain that she does.  
Nothing else was said about Miku afterwards, the others introduced themselves and Kakashi assigned a mission for tomorrow, and then afterwards excused them for the day.

The next morning, Kakashi-sensei put them all through a difficult test, to see who deserves to become an official genin and who deserves to be sent back to the academy.  
Their task was to try to take the bells from Kakashi-sensei, and while it seemed simple enough, it was actually a nearly impossibly challenge.  
Miku was considerably weaker than the other three, and despite how socially awkward she was she had tried her best to team up with someone.  
Naruto was too busy trying to tackle Kakashi-sensei head on to even notice Miku, and Sakura did little more than faint a dozen times and run through the forest telling for Sasuke. When Miku had asked Sasuke for help he just, well, kept on being Sasuke.  
In the end, time ran out and everybody failed. Or so they thought..  
Miku was the only one who had successfully passed, being the only one to even consider working as a team, even though they all had completely ignored her in the end. The three remaining genin were to retake the test, however only two of them could pass because squads could only be made up of three people.  
Sakura was the only one who had failed, because while Naruto and Sasuke temporarily put aside their differences and tried to work together, Sakura just stood in the background cheering for Sasuke while throwing all kinds of harsh insults at Naruto. Kakashi-sensei said she cared more about boys than she did about being a ninja and that would cost the team dearly in the future.  
Sakura wasn't very happy about being eliminated, infact she was completely livid. She had shot Miku a glare filled with so much hate it almost brought tears to her eyes.  
After the big news, Kakashi-sensei told everybody to meet him by the Shirakawa stream, that flowed through Konoha all the way from The Land of Waves, tomorrow morning at 8am sharp.  
Miku took her time getting home, stopping to admire a beautiful butterfly as it gently floated by. She had also stopped at a local teahouse and ordered some exotic blends for taste testing, as Miku had a terrible weakness for tea. She thought herself to be incredibly strange, and while Miku was perfectly content with herself, she was scared that nobody else would like her.  
'Why did I ever decide to become a ninja?' She thought, working her way up the stepping-stone path that lead up to the Tatsuki's main house. 'I wonder what will happen next?'

* * *

Sasuke hated teams. When he heard he would be stuck on a team with the most useless genin known to humanity, the one female in this world who Sasuke would _**love**_ to punch in the mouth, and a girl who was more shy than Hinata and who always looked scared, well he wanted to give up on being a ninja right then and there.  
But once he got to know them, got along with Naruto for 10 minute, and then received the news that Sakura failed to pass the test, he didn't feel as angry anymore.  
He still hated teams.

Kakashi-sensei ended up being 5 hours late.  
He had instructed everyone to arrive at 8am, and by 9:30am Miku had given up and curled up on the ground to go to sleep while Naruto had a taijutsu competition against an invisible opponent. Sasuke just sat down beside Miku's sleeping form and contemplated moving to another village, as this one seemed to be filled with a bunch of defects.  
Squad 7 had enough time to take a power nap, run to the nearby noodle vendor and grab some lunch, and watch the sun reach its highest point by the time that Kakashi-sensei had arrived.  
"You're late!" Naruto yelled, pointing a finger in his face. "What's the big idea? Telling us to be here at 8am and taking 5 stinkin' hours to get here?!"  
Kakashi-sensei didn't raise his eyes from his book.  
"I got lost on the path of life.. and all that stuff. Anyways, time for your mission." He said, turning the page.

Their mission ended up being more like a chore.  
Kakashi-sensei had arranged for them to clean the Shirakawa stream of all the garbage and crud that had accumulated there over the years.  
Sasuke and Naruto butted head a few times, actually they were constantly at each others throats, trying to out-clean each other. They even came close to breaking out in a full-out brawl a few times, that it until Kakashi-sensei broke them up.  
Miku had been silently working on her own, controlling the water and making it empty all it's contents onto the riverbank. After Naruto and Sasuke refrained from killing each other for the twelfth time, they noticed what Miku was doing.  
She was standing a few feet away from the, her long wavy blue hair was flung over her right shoulder, her arms were raised in the air as if she were conjuring up some wind spirits. The water from the river seemed to be obeying her, tossing out rusty cans, chip wrappers, soggy noodle bowls and water-logged paper.  
"How are you doing that?!" Naruto yelled, dropping his basket of garbage spilling it's contents out onto the grass. "That is so cool!"  
His sudden outburst had statled Miku, breaking her concentration.  
"Oh, Naruto." She stammered, nervously tucking a stray curl behind her ear. "I was just.. nothing."  
"How did you do that?" Sasuke was the one to ask this time, his tone a little more demanding.  
Miku developed a sudden interest in the ground. "The Tatsuki's are good at controlling the elements and, using them to their.. advantage. Elemental jutsu's are, uh, our specialty I guess..."  
This caught Sasuke's attention. The Uchiha's were known for their fire-jutsu, and the thought of Miku being able to manipulate and use fire to her advantage sparked an interest. He was suddenly curious about who's fire jutsu was better.  
Before he the to raise the subject, Kakashi-sensei interrupted.  
"I think the Shirakawa is clean enough. Let's move on, shall we?" He suggested, walking by casually with his nose still stuffed in his book.

After Naruto had cleaned up all the garbage he spilled, Sasuke burned it all with a fire jutsu and then squad 7 followed Kakashi-sensei into town for their next mission.  
Over the next few weeks, their missions were nothing more than chores such as babysitting, cat sitting, kitty-cat search and rescue, painting, garbage clean up, and laundry. This didn't help develop their ninja skills any, nor did it help the team learn to co-operate.  
As usual, Naruto and Sasuke constantly fought with one another, and developed a nasty habit of trying to prove who was the best. They held competitions to see who could babysit the best, or who could find the missing kitty first. Naruto tried to prove he could out-paint Sasuke and ended up spilling his paint all over some demon-lady's lawn, resulting in a beating that was so fierce Sasuke and Miku could almost feel it.  
Sasuke had tried to clean up garbage from a nearby park faster than Naruto, and ended up spearing his own foot in the process. It wasn't a deep gash, and thankfully it didn't go all the way through, but after some ninjutsu from the local medic-nin, Sasuke was back to his old _"I'm superior to everyone"_ self.  
About a week after that, Kakashi-sensei had assigned them their first **_real_**mission.  
Apparently a group of bandits was loose in the forest outside of Konoha and was terrorizing local traders, and the Third Hokage wanted something to be done about it. Team Gai's group originally wanted the mission, but after losing to a game of paper-scissors-stone, the mission was passed on to squad 7.  
In the end, Naruto had to sit this mission out because he developed food poisoning from eating three-week old ramen he found in his fridge and was forced, literally, to stay in the hospital overnight under close watch.  
This left only Sasuke, Miku and Kakashi-sensei to complete the mission.  
"What do I do?" Miku asked herself, walking home after hearing the news. "It'll be just Sasuke, Kakashi-sensi and I, and I'm not good to anyone so really, It will just be Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei..." She let out a long sigh. "I'm pathetic."  
"At least you're not like Naruto." A familiar voice spoke up from behind her. She spun around to find Sasuke Uchiha standing behind her, his hands shoved in his pockets with his usual expression plastered on his face.  
"S-Sasuke-kun.." Miku stuttered, slapping a hand over her mouth. "Sorry I just, you startled me." She squeaked, trying to hide her embarrassment.  
Sasuke did nothing more than "hn" at her and walked passed her, leaving her behind. Miku just stood there staring at him, wondering if she should continue on her way or wait until he was out of sight. She wanted to get home so she could get rested up for tomorrow, but she didn't want to seem like she was following him.  
He took a few more steps before stopping, looking over his shoulder to see if Miku was following.  
"Why are you just standing there?" He asked. "Isn't your house this way?"  
Miku nodded, and sprinted to catch up to him. She wasn't sure if this was his invitation to hang out, but she decided to walk with him anyways. She was getting used to Sasuke and Naruto, and the small amounts of attention she received from them. She wanted to get to know them better, and to hopefully come out of her shell and grow more confident.

"So..." Miku began, tugging on her kimono sleeve. Sasuke didn't pay attention to her. "You're pretty strong huh?"  
Sasuke let out a deep sigh. "Is this seriously what you want to talk to me about?"  
She slowed her pace. "I'm sorry I just... don't know what else to talk about."  
"How about you don't say anything."  
Miku lowered her eyes to the ground, embarrassed that she even tried to talk to Sasuke. She should have known he was way too proud of himself to notice a creature such as her.  
Sasuke took a few more steps before stopping once more to look at her over his shoulder.  
"What's wrong now?" He snapped, obviously irritated.  
"I'm sorry Sasuke-kun.." Miku said, walking towards him. She stopped in front of him and gave a very small bow. "I'm sorry that I bothered you, and that I tried to talk to you. It, it won't happen again." She said, before turning and sprinting towards the Tatsuki compound.  
Sasuke watched the girl run passed him, down the street before dissappearing behind a corner. He was stunned at what she said, he hadn't even realized he was being rude. He never realized he was rude to people, he just.. was.  
Guilt ate at him the entire way home. This girl was obviously very timid and scared to talk to others, he should have known not to be so rude to her, after all she was just trying to talk to him.

Sasuke has known about Miku Tatsuki for some time now. He first noticed her when he was 6, and she was 5.  
This was around the time that all the girls around their age began obsessing over him, stalking him and driving him absolutely insane! Miku was the only girl in Konoha, besides Hinata, who didn't throw herself at him. This is what made him notice her.  
He had actually saw people treating Miku rather coldly a few times growing up, and once or twice he felt incredibly sorry for her. The one time that he remembered as clear as day was when Ino and Sakura, when they still liked each other, had decided to make Miku their target.  
Miku was shorter than most people, and was very small compared to others. On top of that, her hair was a very noticable blue in colour, not like Sasuke's that was a raven colour and could be interpreted as either dark blue or black. Ino and Sakura often bullied her about her hair colour, and about how timid and small she was.  
Sasuke seemed to be the only person in Konoha who knew she existed. When she tripped and fell in the streets, scraping her knee, he was the only one who heard her cries. While she sat at the back of the classroom, or went up front to answer a question on the board, he was the only one whose eyes followed her.  
Everybody in Konoha was oblivious to her growing up. All but Sasuke Uchiha.  
Sasuke didn't have a crush on Miku, he wasn't the type to become romantically involved with a female. He just, noticed her. He knew she was there.  
And because he noticed her, he knew what she was like when she had to talk to people. She was socially awkward, so much that even simple everyday conversation was difficult for her to pull off.  
Letting his guilt get the better of him he decided he would apologize to Miku tomorrow, and maybe try to talk to her.  
After all, she wasn't annoying like the rest of the girls in this town. He could probably learn to tolerate her in the future.

* * *

** This is my Sasuke story. Yes, a Sasuke story.  
I wrote this when I was 11, that was 7 years ago mind you, and I figured it's about time to post it online. I worked on it for 3 years so I've grown rather fond of it. With that being said, I'm probably not gonna change much, aside from my spelling and grammar.  
If you don't like it that's perfectly fine, this story was written by 11 year old me so I'm not expecting a bunch of fans.  
Anyways, enjoy the story folks. Please give reviews!**  
**Also, you probably noticed Sakura is not a part of squad 7. ****This is because I hate the whole "Squad 7 randomly has 4 people while the rest have 3" thing a lot of writers tend to do, and also I don't like Sakura.  
She makes me angry... very, very angry.**  
**So I took her out. ^_^;  
I'm also not going by the storyline (much) however there will be some random switching back to the original storyline from time to time.**

** The theme for this fanfiction is the song "Hana" by "ORANGE RANGE" because 11 year old me said so. The summary is the translated version of the song, the title of the story is part of the song lyrics (Which translates to "It was a dream-like miracle that I met you.") and it's wonderous lyrics shall surface amidst my story numerous times before the end.  
Anyways I'll shut up now.**

** Just one more thing. **

**Should I keep the writing like this, in the middle?**

**Or like this? Way over here? To the left?**


	2. The Mission

_Aisuru koto de tsuyoku naru koto, shinjiru koto de norikireru koto._  
_I become strong by loving, I make it through by believing._

* * *

When Miku was finished at the bath houses, she had to rush back home to get changed into her ninja attire before her mission.  
Her ninja attire consisted of a short white kimono, that just covered her thighs, with black shorts underneath. Her obi was very short, to avoid getting caught on something, and was a beautiful red colour. Her kimono sleeves were short as well, to avoid getting in the way during training, but they were also detachable and Miku wore it without sleeves when she was out with her squad.  
Miku was surprised her obi's bright red colour didn't clash with her hair's blue colour, but somehow they worked well together. Unsure of what she should do with her hair, the fear of getting caught on something or by someone got the best of her and she decided on typing it up in a high ponytail.  
She wasn't sure what she should do with her hitai-ate, she didn't like the feeling of it on her forehead, and she couldn't find anywhere else to tie it, so she just decided to use it as a head-band for now, until she found a more creative spot to put it.  
_The fear of dangling sleeves, obi's or loose hair getting tangled up in something = eliminated._

Miku had to run as fast as her legs could take her, because she had overslept by 20 minutes and was terrified of being late. When she arrived at the gates of Konoha, she wasn't overly surprised to see just Sasuke there waiting for her. Miku preoccupied herself by playing with a ladybug she found on a nearby tree, while Sasuke stood there with his eyes closed, hands in his pockets. Even though they only had to wait an hour for Kakashi-sensei to finally arrive, it was a very awkward hour because neither genin spoke a word to one another. They wouldn't even look in each other's direction.  
"Sorry I'm late. Gai tied me to my bed while I was sleeping as a desperate act at keeping my squad from completing the mission that he had originally wanted for his squad.. anyways, let's get moving, don't wanna be late." He explained, walking passed them and through the gates.  
Sasuke and Miku looked at one another with a look that read _"Can you believe this guy?" _

About midway through the forest, Sasuke turned to begin a conversation with Miku."Are you busy later?" He asked, barely any emotion in his voice.  
Miku looked up at Sasuke. "What.. what do you mean? No, no I'm not busy. Why?" She stuttered a bit trying to get her sentence out. He never used to intimidate her like this, it was just a result from what happened lastnight. "Did I do something wrong?"  
"Why must you ask so many questions?" He asked irritated. Miku lowered her eyes to the ground, trying not to look so pathetic in front of Sasuke. He realized he was being rude to her again and after letting out a deep sigh he apologized.  
"Sorry. I was just wondering, if you'd like to train with me when we get back."He suggested, not taking his eyes off the road ahead.  
"Train.. with me?" Miku repeated. Then she remembered how mad Sasuke had gotten the last time she answered a question with a question. "I mean.. yeah, that would be great. But, why me?"  
She wasn't trying to be annoying, she really was curious. He had his pick of any genin in Konoha to train with, and he chose her? She was quite possibly the weakest of all the 9 rookies.  
"Well, we're on the same team. I don't know the other genin well enough to approach them, if I had to train with Naruto I would sooner kill him than train with him and you can use fire jutsu just like I can. I wanted to test my skills on you." He explained, giving Miku a handsome smirk. It was probably only meant to be a simple, friendly smirk, but it ended up looking like something more.  
Miku had never been attracted to Sasuke before. I mean, sure she thought he was attractive, because he obviously was, but she never had any sort of romantic feelings towards him. She thought of him as only a friend, if she could even call them friends.  
However, when he had shot her that smirk, for a split second, she felt just like one of his fangirls must feel whenever he looks at them. She had to avert her gaze from his to hide the blush that was creeping onto her face.  
'What are you doing?' She mentally scolded herself. 'He is handsome.. I don't think he would like another addition to the Sasuke Fan Club so I should avoid liking him at all costs..'  
Sasuke was staring at Miku, trying to figure out why she looked so nervous, and so scared around him all the time. She always looked nervous, like she expected someone to jump out with a knife and murder her at any moment, but when she was around Sasuke it was almost like she expected **_him_** to be the one to jump out and stab her.  
Was he really that intimidating? Or was it simply because he was so cold to everyone, including her, that she was uncomfortable around him?  
When Miku realized Sasuke was still staring at her, she assumed it was because he had seen her blush and now thought she was a total nut-case. She decided it was best to just smile and act as if nothing happened.  
And that's what she did, she looked up at Sasuke and shot him a smile before tripping and stumbling on a rock.  
He had never seen Miku smile before. She was usually always frowning, and if she did smile it was hardly noticable. This smile seemed almost genuine, and even the great, emotionless Sasuke Uchiha had to admit she looked better when she smiled.  
He thought it was funny when she tripped, and managed to catch her before she did a face-plant.

About 15 minutes later, Sasuke and Miku had fallen into conversation with one another, comparing jutsu and fighting styles. Kakashi was walking leisurely ahead of them, his face buried in his book.  
'Oh this is getting good, hehe.' Kakashi thought. 'I can't wait to hear about what he will do to her nex-' His thoughts were interrupted by a tree.  
It was close to 9am by now, and because of the cool weather all the trees had orange, gold, yellow, or brown leaves and were all covered in a light frost. This one tree, had bright luscious green leaves and stood proudly as if the cold weather had never affected it.  
"Hmm.. something seems off." He said out loud, barely out of ear-shot of his two genin. When they had asked him what he said he claimed he actually said "Pine smell aloft." which caused their faces to contort in confusion.  
'I can't risk worrying them now. Besides, it's rare that you see Sasuke Uchiha so deep in a conversation with another person, especially with a female.' He thought, pointing his eyes down at his book to make it seem like he was reading. In reality, he was scanning his surroundings.  
By now, Sasuke was officially convinced that his sensei was insane.  
Literally.  
He's always late for no reason and had the worlds worst excuses. Today's excuse, was by-far the worst one yet. On top of that he's been grinning to himself like a fool for the past hour, talking about pine smells while engaging in numerous conversations with himself. He reminded Sasuke of an older, lazier version of Naruto.  
Miku was having a lovely conversation with Sasuke. She actually managed to drop her hands to her sides and walk comfortable, instead of clutching them at her chest. She was very surprised at how human he was treating her, and even though it made her happy to have a conversation with somebody without making herself look crazy, she was also worried that he was only putting on an act or simply trying to pull a fast one on her.  
It was a strange thought, him suddenly wanting to talk to Miku like this, especially when he paid her no more attention than a bee does to a butterfly when they pass one another in a field. Was he up to something cruel?  
She wanted to ask him about it, but she was scared he would see her as crazy and stop talking to her altogether.  
Even if he was only faking kind-ness, Miku liked having somebody to talk to.

The tree, as it turned out, was actually Naruto in disguise. He had snuck away from the hospital, leaving a note of course so they wouldn't freak out over his absence, and then silently followed his sensei and team mates into the forest. His plan was to jump in and aid them during battle, to act like a hero and to totally show Sasuke up, but after hours of walking Naruto got bored and decided to mess with their heads, turning into tree's that didn't belong, or animals that shouldn't be there.  
This time, he was a giant snake.  
He was lurking nearby, getting ready to lash out and scare Sasuke but Miku noticed him first and let out a piercing shriek so loud, it wouldn't be surprising if she destroyed Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei's hearing completely,  
As it turns out, Miku is terribly afraid of snakes. When she was no older than 4, some of her older cousins had gotten together and played a cruel trick on her, by pretending they wanted to play but really they were leading her to a giant pit of snakes they had found some time ago.  
One of them pushed Miku into the pit of snakes. They were only about the length a kitchen knife, and even though they weren't poisonous in any way, they still became startled and started biting her all over.  
They had wanted to scare her so bad she wet herself, and had even made a bet about it, but instead of wetting herself like they had hoped, Miku had a seizure.  
Once Sasuke had caught sight of the snake, he went into angry-Uchiha mode and leaped into the forest, and after using a fireball jutsu had burned the snake a good deal. However, instead of bursting into flames and dying, the snake vanished in a 'poof' of smoke only to re-appear as a crispy Naruto.  
"Hey Sasuke! What's the big idea?!" He yelled, flailing his arms all over. "You could have killed me!"  
"Me?! Are you an idiot? Were you trying to kill us?" Sasuke yelled, grabbing Naruto harshly by the collar of his shirt and shaking him violently. "You, are a total idot."  
Nobody was paying any attention to Miku. Sasuke and Naruto were screaming in each other's faces while Kakashi-sensei stood in the background and watched incased things got too physical.  
She was standing there stunned, skin as white as a ghost, her heartbeat racing far too fast to be considered normal by anyone, and she was breathing as if she just ran from Konoha to Suna and back without stopping.  
'It was just Naruto.' she tried to assure herself, urging her heart to settle down. 'No cause for alarm.'  
But her blood felt as if it had been turned to ice and she couldn't seem to calm down.  
By now Sasuke and Naruto were ready to fight each other to the death, and this is when Kakashi-sensei stepped in to break the two apart.  
"You're no good to us if you're both dead." He said, holding Naruto back with one hand and Sasuke with his foot.  
"Hn, loser." Sasuke scoffed, turning away from his team mate. Naruto started yelling more threats and insults in Sasuke's direction, but he wasn't paying him any attention. He had caught sight of Miku, standing in her frozen form and grew concerned for his team mate.  
"Hey. It was just Naruto." He said. He probably should have at least tried to sound comforting, or at least cheerful, but because he was Sasuke he just sounded bored and emotionless. Miku interpreted that as him scolding her for being such a coward.  
She still felt pretty spooked from the whole encounter, but to make a good impression she smiled and nodded.  
"Yeah, okay."

* * *

"So where is this bandit hideout?" Naruto asked, munching on some uncooked ramen he brought along for the ride.  
"Somewheres," Kakashi-sensei said, turning the page of his book.  
Naruto glared at his sensei before turning around and striking up a conversation with himself.  
They had decided to rest up for the night. Nobody knew where they were going, only Kakashi-sensei did. Naruto wasn't even sure there were any bandits in the area, Sasuke couldn't care less as long as he got to punch somebody, and Miku was secretly hoping there were no bandits. She wanted to avoid conflict as much as possible.  
Kakashi-sensei was stretched out on a tree branch, right above where his genin were sitting. Not only did he have a perfect view of his squad from above, he could also see the surrounding area clearly. The moonlight also fell perfectly on this branch lighting up the pages of his book, making it eaiser for him to read.  
Naruto was now in the middle of a full-blown argument with himself over which types of ramen he prefers, while Sasuke had made a fire and sat down beside it, trying his hardest to tone out the world.  
"-I keep telling you, tonkotsu ramen is better than miso ramen. It is not you idiot! Pork ramen beats all. I don't know, beef ramen is pretty good too..."  
Sasuke wanted to face-palm right then and there. Not face-palm himself mind you, but rather face-palm Naruto to get him to shut his mouth.  
He looked over at Miku, who was sitting a distance away from them against a rock. She was hidden by the shadows, but Sasuke knew it was her from the blue glow of her hair.  
Even though Miku was freezing cold, and had wanted nothing more than to sit by the nice warm fire with her team mates, she convinced herself that it was better if she sat away from them. She had grown accustomed to being alone. Naruto and Sasuke had also grown up with Sakura, while Miku was always there, just never really noticed.  
Part of her felt guilty, having passed while Sakura did not. She had a feeling that Sasuke and Naruto would rather have Sakura as a team-mate than Miku.  
"You can come sit by us you know." Kakashi-sensei said, suddenly appearing beside Miku.  
"Kakashi-sensei!" She squeaked, clutching her chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack..."  
Kakashi-sensei let out some sort of a mix between a laugh and a chuckle and then turned a page in his book. "We're not going to hurt you."  
She developed a sudden interest in her feet. "I feel out-of-place, sensei."  
"Why is that?" He asked, not lifting his eyes from the page.  
"I don't know.. I grew up with these two boys but yet, at the same time I didn't. Neither one of them even knew I was alive until just a few weeks ago. Sakura has known them forever, they would be happier with her on the team instead of me." She said, pulling her knees into her chest.  
"I see now." Kakashi-sensei said, turning another page of his book. "You feel bad because you, a stranger, passed while Sakura, their friend, did not. You feel as though Naruto and Sasuke will grow up to become great friends while you'll always be that awkward girl standing in the background..."  
He had hit the nail on the head. He was smarter than he appeared to be.  
"Don't worry about it too much. "He said, ruffling her hair with his free hand. "You three have more in common than you think."

After a few more minutes of coaxing, Kakashi-sensei had finally convinced Miku to come join the rest of her squad over by the fire.  
Kakashi-sensei resumed his original spot stretched out on the tree branch above them, while Miku took the spot between Sasuke and Naruto.  
They all sat in silence for almost half an hour before Kakashi grew impatient.  
'Bond damn you, bond...' He thought, hoping one of them would suddenly get the urge to bond with the other two. Naturally, nothing happened so Kakashi had decided to take matters into his own hands.  
"You three should talk about your families." Kakashi-sensei called out from above them. "Bond I say, bond!"  
All three of them suddenly grew nervous, nobody wanted to talk about their pasts.  
The sadness weighed all three of them down so much, it was as if the earth herself were trying to pull them into the ground. They were perfectly fine talking about their likes, dislikes, hobbies, or dreams for the future, but their past? That was a depressing topic.  
"Well." Naruto began, deciding to be the one to break the ice. "I never knew my family. My mother and father were both killed by the 9-tailed fox demon. So I guess I can't really say much about mine..."  
Miku felt a sudden wave of sadness wash over her. She knew what it was like to have a family and lose them, but she couldn't imagine never knowing who your family was to begin with. She now had a whole new respect for Naruto.  
As much as Sasuke had wanted to keep his past a secret from everybody, including his team mates, Naruto's story had made him feel obligated to share his as well.  
"My family was murdered." He said, throwing some twigs into the fire. "My entire clan was assassinated by... someone. The one who killed them, said he did it for power, to make himself stronger.. he had left me alive so that I could become a strong ninja and then take him on in the future..."  
His story was mostly true, but some parts he left out while others he added. He wasn't comfortable telling them that his older brother has been the one to murder his family, and he really didn't want to reveal that the only reason he was left alive was so that he could avenge everybody.

Both Naruto and Sasuke had brief, but painful stories about their families. Miku's story was a lot longer than that, but nowheres near as heart-breaking.  
"What about you, Miku?" Naruto asked, staring up at her with bright blue eyes.  
"My family was all assassinated or killed in action." She said, pulling her knees into her chest. "We were once a big clan, but after a while it was just the weaker members of my clan; my grandfather, my mother and my father, my three cousins, my aunt and myself. There was hope to restore and strengthen our clan, but my grandfather grew ill and passed away, while two of my cousins were killed in action. My surviving cousin ran away only to be tracked down and murdered by my father, as running away from the clan is thought to be dishonourable. My mother was murdered during a mission, leaving just me, my father and my aunt. Over time my father grew extremely depressed, due to the loss of my mother and threw himself on his own sword. This meant my aunt could leave and not have to worry about anybody, besides me, coming after her. I was only 12 when it happened, so I didn't really do much to stop her.."  
Nobody wanted to talk after this. All three of them had shared their stories, and for the first time squad 7 felt like they had a connection to one another.  
They had all lost their families.

* * *

The next morning, Miku woke with a sudden jolt as did the rest of her squad.  
"Someone's here..." She whispered, slowly getting to her feet. She looked up only to find that Kakashi-sensei had vanished, leaving them behind to defend themselves. They all had their doubts that he was even a jonin, this just made them doubt him more than ever before.  
Sasuke reached into his weapons pouch for a shuriken, preparing to defend himself while Naruto.. well..  
"I'M NARUTO UZUMAKI! I'M GONNA BE THE NEXT HOKAGE, BELIEVE IT! HEY YOU, HIDING IN THE BUSHES, COME OUT AND FACE ME LIKE A NINJA!"  
"Naruto, you idiot!" Sasuke yelled, smacking him in the head. Before Naruto could retaliate, a tall figure emerged from the bush.  
"Well, well, well, what do we have here..." He said, shooting them a wicked grin. "Konoha genin, how cute."  
The man was about 6ft tall, and was wearing only a pair of ripped slacks. He had steel-toe boots on, and a ripped up red bandana wrapped around one eye, like the way Kakashi-sensei wears his headband. He had two katana strapped to his back, forming an "X" shape.  
"So you must be the bandit we're after." Sasuke smirked, activating his sharingan. Miku couldn't help but admire how beautiful his eyes were, a bright red colour with a single black swirl in the enter.  
Sasuke had discovered his sharingan during training a few weeks ago. One of the jonin from Konoha had approached Sasuke and tried to take him out, because his son was assigned to spar against him for one of the genin assessments and had a better chance of passing if Sasuke were eliminated or too injured to fight. After a long, exhausting battle Sasuke managed to activate his sharingan and gave the jonin a beating he was sure to never forget.  
He kept this story to himself however, to spare him and the jonin some dignity, and let people assume he was born with the sharingan.  
"An Uchiha, how interesting. I'm the leader of the bandits you're looking for. If you can take me out, then the rest of my team will be as easy to fight as little children. Fail.. and well, you should know what happens." He said, un-sheathing one of his katana's from his back. "I don't like it when genin come sniffing around my forest."  
"Don't worry Miku." Sasuke said, when he saw how scared she really did look. "I won't let anybody harm you."  
Miku wasn't even aware that she was shaking until Sasuke said this. She didn't want to look weak in front of her squad, but this bandit looked like he might be too strong for her to even attempt to fight.  
"Thank you Sasuke." She said, giving him a small smile. "I won't let anybody harm you either."  
He must have thought what she said was funny because he let out a chuckle before focusing his attention back to the bandit.  
"You're going to learn just how strong we Konoha genin are." He said, taking a fighting stance.  
"YEAH YOU'RE ABOUT TO FEEL THE WRATH OF NARUTO UZUMAKI, BELIEVE IT!"  
Naruto was being so quiet up until now, they had almost forgotten that he was even here.  
The next thing they knew, two dozen Naruto's were running at top speed towards the bandit.


	3. The Surprise

_We love each other, we fight, we climb over all sorts of obstacles together._  
_Aishiatte, kenka shite, ironna kabe futari de nori koete._

* * *

Naruto charged straight into battle without even stopping to think about what he was doing, he didn't even come up with a battle strategy. He just... charged.  
With a swing of his katana, the bandit easily sent two dozen Naruto's flying across the field, each one of then vanishing with a 'poof'.  
The real Naruto stood up, and after wiping away some dirt off his cheek he yelled "Come on! Is that the best you got?" before running towards the bandit once more.  
Sasuke couldn't believe what he was seeing. Naruto must be Konoha's worst genin, he was even worse than Sakura and Miku!  
After shouting some profanity, he headed over to where Naruto was, shuriken clutched in his hand ready to aid his comrade, if he could even consider Naruto that much.  
At first, it seemed like Sasuke was doing alright, he landed a flew blows, and managed to dodge every attack that was thrown back at him. He was feeling pretty proud of himself until his shuriken struck a replacement jutsu and he got punched in the face by the real bandit, who had snuck up behind him.  
Sasuke flung himself back up to his feet, and charged back into battle. Both Naruto and Sasuke were charging blindly at the bandit who easily deflected their attacks with his katana and then knocked them both backwards with a swing of his fists.  
'Why am I standing by watching them get beat?' Miku asked herself, watching Naruto get hit with Sasuke's flying figure. 'I should try to help...'  
"Get out of my way loser!" Sasuke yelled, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. He didn't look soo pleased to have come crashing down onto Naruto.  
"Me?! You watch where you're going you jerk!" Naruto retaliated, swinging at punch at Sasuke. He ducked just in time, and then struck Naruto in the face with his own fist.  
"You guys, hey quit it!" Miku yelled, but neither one of them were listening to her. She wasn't even sure if the could hear her. Without thinking she rushed in to stop them from killing each other.  
The bandit stood in the background watching with an amused smirk as the two boys fought with one another. "What a joke! You Konoha genin are pathetic!"  
His words reached Sasuke and Naruto's ears, casing them to cease their attacks on one another.  
"What did you say?!" Sasuke yelled, fists clenched.  
"Yeah you big jerk! The only thing pathetic here is you and your face!" Naruto retorted.  
Miku stopped in her tracks, about a yard away from where they were all fighting.  
"At least... they stopped trying to kill each other. For now." She said to herself, breathing a sigh of relief.  
She watched as Sasuke successfully pulled off one of his fire jutsu's, scorching the bandit's arm, causing him to drop his katana. Naruto had used his signature "Uzumaki Barrage" and landed a few good blows to his arms, stomach and face.  
Just when it seemed that things were finally starting to go their way, lady-luck had turned on them.  
Sasuke was performing hand signs, about to use his "Fireball justu" when Naruto decided at the same moment to attack with a "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Right before he could form the last necessary hand-sign, two of Naruto's clones bumped into his arms causing him to lose his concentration.  
This mistake has also caused him to lose his temper.  
He leaped into the air, cutting Naruto off, and round-house kicked Naruto right in the back, losing his footing in the process and sending them both crashing to the ground.

Sasuke was most definitely pissed off.  
It was bad enough he was stuck on a team with this dead weight loser, now itseems that he can't even successfully beat an opponent to a pulp without him somehow managing to interfere? At this rate, Sasuke wanted to kill Naruto more than this bandit.  
To top it all off, Miku was just standing there watching them like a deer caught in headlights. She really was useless, doing nothing more than watching and shaking like a leaf. Sasuke was glad she wasn't trying to help, she would only slow him down more.  
Naruto was getting equally annoyed with Sasuke, because he always somehow managed to prevent him from performing his 'super awesome ninja moves!' correctly.  
As soon as they had finished with this fight, Naruto was going to show Sasuke who the better ninja was.  
"Sasuke you're a complete moron! Stay out of my way, you're messing me up!" Naruto yelled, standing up and giving Sasuke a violent shove.  
"Are you delusional? You're the one who keeps getting in my way!" Sauske screamed, grabbing Naruto by the shirt and shaking him agressively. Miku watched helplessly as her two team mates began the Cold War 2 with one another, sending insults back and forth along with occasional shoving or punching.  
This time however, she couldn't just stand back and watch as her team destroyed one another.  
The bandit stood by, leaning on his katana as if it were a walking stick, shaking his head while laughing to himself. This whole scene seemed hilarious to him, but at the same time he looked equally disappointed. "You guys are too much... hell, I'll just stand back here and watch as you two tear each other apart! The bandit chuckled.  
Miku couldn't stand watching them fight any longer. She rushed towards Sasuke and Naruto, who were now engaging in physical combat, and performed rapid hand signs.  
"Great Wind Blast Jutsu!" She yelled, landing in between them.  
The jutsu caused the user to gather chakra in their palms, and after pressing them together and then instantly releasing them, chakra is forced through the palms by the circulatory system producing a large gust of wind from both hands.  
In this case, it wasn't used to harm the target, but rather to force them apart.  
Miku's blast of wind must have been stronger than she originally intended, because both boys went flying back several feet, colliding with the ground beneath them rather harshly.  
They both seemed to have been knocked into a daze.  
The bandit looked more alert than ever now, as if her sudden attempt to join the fight had sparked something in him.  
"So.. the little mousie has some fight." He sneered, cracking his knuckles, and then his neck. "This will be interesting."

* * *

Both Sasuke and Naruto were now in the sitting position, rubbing their heads and groaning. Neither one was in a hurry to jump up and re-join in the fighting.  
Miku swallowed nervously. 'Guess it's just me...' She thought, taking a fighting stance. She was terrified, completely terrified! She had never engaged in combat before, especially with someone who could potentially kill her.  
But she couldn't just stand back and let Sasuke and Naruto do all the fighting, besides this is what the life of a ninja includes; Life or death situations.  
Doesn't it?  
She performed hand signs as quickly as she knew how, focusing all her chakra to the palms of her hands. She ran towards the ninja, creating less distance between them, before bringing her hands down onto the earth.  
"Fire Style! Tidal Flame Jutsu!"  
The earth beneath them began to shake, bring Sasuke and Naruto back from their dizzy state. The bandit's eyes widened in shock.  
"How do you know that jutsu?!" He asked, his voice different from before. Miku knew she had heard this other voice before, she just couldn't remember whose face it belonged to.  
"It's one of the first I learned.. it's simple really, once you learn how." She told him, trying to look calm. Although the appeared calm on the outside, inside she was freaking out.  
The chakra she had built up in her palms released, sending a giant tidal-wave of fire, or better known as a tidal-flame, towards the bandit. Within seconds, the place where the bandit once stood as well as the surrounding forest was now nothing more than a smoldering pile of ash, soot and smoke.  
Sasuke and Naruto, now fully awake and back to their senses, hurried over to check on Miku.  
"Hey, whoah man are you alright?" Naruto asked, staring at what was left of the forest.  
Sasuke couldn't say anything, he was still in shock over Miku's sudden display of power. During training, she was always so scared to hit someone or of being hit that she spent most of her time hiding behind her own hands, but now.. even he had to admit she was impressive.  
She must have been just as shocked as they were before when Naruto had spoken to her, she nearly jumped out of her own skin.  
"Oh, um... yeah. Yeah I'm okay.." She said, clutching her hands to her chest like she always did. The bandit was still nowhere in sight. "Did.. did I over-do it?" She asked, biting her lip. As much as she just wanted this mission to end as quickly as possible over so she could go home, she didn't want to have been the one to kill him.  
"No I don't think so. " Sasuke stated, activating his sharingan once more. He scanned the surrounding forests for any sign of where the bandit was hiding, but he couldn't see him anywheres. "He's hiding nearby..."  
He was glad the fight wasn't over. Now that Miku had knocked some sense into him, he realized he had a lot of fight left in him. Instead of taking it out on Naruto, he was determined to take out all his anger and frustration on this useless excuse for a bandit.  
A chuckle echoed through the air, sending chills up Miku's spine.  
"You can't kill me, you foolish genin." A familiar voice called out from all around them.  
Naruto couldn't sense him anywhere, he wasn't nearbyanywhere near them, and if he was he hid his chakra extremely well. Sasuke couldn't see him with his sharingan either, it was if he was suddenly invisible.  
"If he's not... in front or behind us." Miku whispered, her eyes drifting to the earth below their feet. "Then he must be.."  
The others must have had the same thoughts as Miku because their eyes followed hers in sync towards the ground beneath their feet. Sasuke could see the figure of a human being crouched under the earth.  
But he noticed it a few seconds too late.

A hand suddenly shot up between their legs, grabbing Naruto by the ankle pulling him underground.  
"Naruto, no!" Miku yelled, rushing forward to grab her friend's arm before he vanished under the earth completely. Sasuke knew if she got any closer she would be pulled under next, so he threw all his weight at Miku sending them both flying out of the reach of the bandit.  
"What do we do?" Miku asked, trying to hide her fear from Sasuke. She was fairly decent at masking the fear in her voice, but her facial expression made it more than obvious how scared she was.  
Sasuke knew this battle would be too difficult for her. She wasn't as strong as he was, she would only get in his way and end up getting herself killed.  
"Miku, I want you to climb a tree or get to high ground. He can't get you if you-"  
"No!" She cut him off. "I want to help." She looked up at him with pleading eyes. She was hoping he would understand what she wanted, even though what she wanted was othing more than to run away, or go hide in a tree somewhere just as he suggested, but she would never be able to forgive herself if she abandoned her team and left them here to die.  
Sasuke was looking into the eyes of Miku Tatsuki, Konoha's most easily frightened and soft-spoken genin. But what he was seeing wasn't just a terrified girl, he was seeing somebody who wanted to try. Who wanted to change.  
Who wanted to help.  
This was something he could admire, for Sasuke Uchiha had no respect for weaklings, or cowards. What he did respect greatly, were ninja who tried. And even more than that, he respected a ninja who succeeded.  
He nodded towards her, giving her a reassuring smile. "Let's rescue Naruto and take this guy down once and for all."  
"And find our sensei." She reminded him.  
They were so caught up in this freaky situation that they had completely forgotten about their sensei who had abandoned them. Squad 7 has officially made Kakashi-sensei their number one target when the return home. Once they were through with him, he would think twice about running off on them.

Before Sasuke and Miku could do anything however, they were interrupted by the sound of laughter and clapping.  
They both spun around.  
The bandit was standing a few feet behind them clapping his hands with a smile on his face, Naruto was knocked-out on the ground by his feet.  
"My my you two.. how sweet." He sneered, shooting them a smile. "Getting all brave like that."  
Sasuke took a fighting stance and Miku pulled out a kunai.  
"All this talk about wanting to work together to save your team-mate, how touching. And you there girl, choosing to stay and fight and not flee with terror. I must say I'm... impressed." The bandit said, his face breaking out into a grin. And not an evil grin either, an actual happy grin.  
A sudden poof of smoke engulfed the bandit, causing Naruto to jolt awake and start flailing around in a panic.  
"What's going on?! Where's this smoke coming from? Is everyone dead?! AHHH!" He yelled, trying to escape by doing the worm acrossed the grass.  
When the smoke cleared, the bandit was no longer there, but there in his place was...  
"Kakashi-sensei?!"

* * *

Naruto boasted the entire trip back into town, claming to have known that it was Kakashi-sensei the entire time. Eventually Sasuke grew impatient and started arguing with Naruto which resulted in them fighting once again, and this time nobody bothered to break it up.  
While the boys were fighting, Miku decided to pop the question that had bothered her for a long time.  
"Sensei?" She began, fidgeting with the hem of her kimono. "Why did you um... do what you did back there?"  
Kakashi-sensei ducked to avoid being hit by a kunai thrown at Sasuke. "Why I did what?" He asked as if he genuinely had no idea.  
"Pretend to be a bandit..." She spoke quietly as if she were scared somebody would overhear.  
"Ah." He said as if coming to a realization. "I wanted to test you."  
"Test... me?" She repeated.  
"Yes. Well, you and Sasuke."  
"But.. why?"  
Kakashi-sensei stopped walking, as did Miku. Naruto and Sasuke kept fighting up the path away from them.  
"Yes, I wanted to test you and Sasuke." He said, suddenly looking serious. "You three are a very.. unique team. Not one of you is exactly like the other. You all have different strengths, weaknesses, flaws and abilities."  
Miku looked as if she still wasn't sure what he was telling her. Kakashi-sensei let out a sigh before continuing.  
"Naruto and Sasuke are constantly fighting with one another, trying to get the best of one another and to put it simply they are rivals. However, their rivalry will cause both of them to push themselves to their very limits to become greater than the other, which will in the end cause them both to become strong ninja's. I sense that even though they are polar-opposites in every way, they will eventually become great friends, although they probably won't admit to it." He paused to glance over in the boys direction to see if they were killing each other yet.  
Sasuke had Naruto in a headlock, which wasn't very life-threatening so he shrugged it off and turned back to Miku. "Naruto is the type of person to befriend even the most unfriendly of people. And you, despite your timid personality are a very likable person so I have no doubts you and Naruto will become good friends someday. As for you and Sasuke..."  
Miku bit her bottom lip. She knew what Sasuke thought of her.  
"Sasuke isn't very quick to like someone. Infact, Sasuke hates pretty much anyone but himself. You, Miku, are everything Sasuke hates in a person. You don't like conflict, you're very quiet and soft-spoken, you constantly doubt yourself, in everyone's eyes you are as weak as a kitten even though I know very well you could be as strong as Kurenai if you tried hard enough. So you see Miku, you and Sasuke are the least likely to ever get along and work together on squad 7, even moreso than Naruto and Sasuke, so I put you two in that unfortunate situation to see what would come out of it. In the end I was most pleased. Not only did you stick up for yourself and choose to stay and help instead of fleeing like Sasuke told you to do, you both agreed to work together for the sake of the team."  
She wanted to ask him more questions, but he had to hurry up the path to stop thirty Naruto clones from be-heading Sasuke.  
"I'm everything he hates in a person?" she repeated. "...does he really hate me that much?"

* * *

***I apologie for the way this turned out. I grew bored of it half-way through and I couldn't think of any fight-scenes or super-awesome-ninja techniques I could add so I just wrapped it up.  
Gomen!  
Promise the next one will be better ^_^**


	4. The Training

_After the rain a rainbow hangs in the sky, light is born in the mountain air._  
_Ame agari niji kakari ao arashi ni umareshi hikari._

* * *

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"  
A dozen Miku's sprung forth from little clouds of smoke, each one just as eager as the others.  
'I have to train harder.' She thought trying to catch her breath.  
Miku had been training for the past 8 hours, having got up extra early just for this purpose. Kakashi-sensei got called away for an important meeting so he told them all to spend today practicing their jutsu.  
He had expected them to train together but Sasuke was, well, Sasuke, and Naruto was still sleeping even though it was already passed noon.  
'I have to keep up with my team.' She thought, taking out two of her clones with kunai.  
Miku Tatsuki appeared weak to everybody who met her. Even though she wasn't as strong as the great Sasuke Uchiha or the renowned Neji Hyuga, she wasn't quite as weak as Naruto or Hinata either. She was fairly decent when it came to taijutsu and genjutsu, and so-so when it came to ninjutsu.  
She never strived to be "great" she just wanted to keep up with the others.

However, Sasuke had the same idea that Miku did and was on his way there to train himself.  
"How did I end up with such losers for team-mates?" He asked himself, kicking a pine cone out of his way.  
Lastnight was just terrible. Not only did Miku prove yet again that she was as useless as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking competition, but Naruto did nothing but irritate the living hell out of him. He didn't even need team-mates, they were only getting in his way and slowing him down.  
He worked better when he was alone.  
Maybe he could convince the Third Hokage to let him go solo.  
As he neared his usual training spot, a large open field in the center of a nearby forest, he could hear the sounds of somebody else training there.  
"Great." He hissed under his breath. "Someone to bother me."  
Sasuke decided he would ignore this other person and train on his own, as far away from them as he could. With any luck they would leave.  
"Dragon Flame Jutsu!" A female voice called. Sasuke paused. 'I know that voice...' he thought, moving some bushes out of his way.  
When he stepped into the clearing, he froze. There, in front of him, was Miku.  
She was covered in dirt and sweat and was completely out of breath. Her hair tied back into a bun, while her kimono sleeves were left still attached but dangling at her sides. There was several craters in the ground around her, as well as some smoldering bushes, an area of water-logged grass, a lot of broken branches and a few cracked-open rocks.  
The tree in front of her had the imprint of a dragon scorched into its trunk.  
'What is going on?' He thought, shrinking back into the bushes. He couldn't let her see him there, knowing her she would get spooked and start fumbling around or panic and run off. He wanted to see what she could do.  
"Gotta keep moving." She said, pushing her wet bangs out of her face. "I'm just gonna mess everybody up unless I get stronger."  
Her chakra was pretty much gone by now, and she had no strength left to continue her training.  
"I can't train if I'm dead." She said, sitting down on the ground. "Gotta rest."  
She pulled a cloth out of her kimono and used it to wipe the sweat and dirt off her face, or at least try to. Her water bottle was a few feet away and now that she was in the resting-position, her body became stubborn and refused to let her move.  
"Gotta rest..." She repeated drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Miku awoke to the sound of somebody beating someone else up.  
Startled she bolted upright just in time to see Sasuke kill Sasuke.  
"What..." She shook her head. Was she still dreaming?  
When she opened her eyes again, Sasuke was staring directly at her.  
"I see you're awake." He said, breathing heavily. "It's about time."  
She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. How long had he been here?  
She watched him walk over to where she was sitting and throw himself onto the ground beside her. He was just as sweaty and dirty as she was if not worse.  
"You train here too?" He asked, removing his hitai-ate. She nodded.  
"Yeah.. I found it last week." She admitted, reaching into her obi to pull out a handkerchief. She always kept a few there just incase.  
She handed it to Sasuke.  
"I've come here for years." He told her, accepting the handkerchief. "It's always been my spot to train."  
Miku looked away. "I'm sorry. I won't come back."  
Sasuke glanced over at her. "You're a strange girl, you know that?" He told her, passing her a water bottle. It wasn't hers, because hers was still sitting a few feet away in the blistering heat, but as she tried to reject it but he ignored her and placed it in her lap.  
"When you're around other people you're so quiet and quick to apologize. It's as if you're afraid to speak." He said, looking up at the sky.  
Sasuke was always saying harsh things to Miku, and even though these words weren't nearly as harsh his usual comments, they still hurt a great deal.  
"But.." He continued. "When you're alone you're confident. You're strong and you speak as freely as you want to."  
She looked up at him.  
"How did you.." He cut her off.  
"You don't think I notice you?" He was looking right at her. "I'm not like the other fools in this village I actually do notice people. Like for instance, Naruto trains harder than anybody else in Konoha but yet when he's around other people all he does is goof off. Sakura is annoying no matter who she's around and Hinata is the most shy around Naruto. As for you... you're scared of other people."  
Miku wasn't sure what to think now. Sasuke had actually noticed her before?  
Nobody ever noticed her...  
"I guess... you're right." She admitted, for once not watching her words carefully. "Even though I had a family, I still grew up alone. Without friends.. I'm not used to... talking to other people. I'm scared of what they will think.." She trailed off.  
Why was she having this conversation with Sasuke Uchiha? Just the other day he didn't care what happened to her. But now...  
She could hear him chuckling beside her.  
"Maybe if you open up to others more you'll become a stronger ninja." He said, looking over at her with kindness in his eyes.  
Miku wasn't used to seeing this side of Sasuke, was this somebody playing a cruel joke on her?  
"Are you... really Sasuke-kun?" She asked him. "Sasuke-kun.. is never nice to anyone."  
His face grew serious. He didn't like being nice to people.  
"Tch. Don't get used to it. And drop the formalities I hate them." He said standing up.  
Miku couldn't help but smile. Even the great Sasuke had a heart deep down.  
Deep, deep, deep, deep, very deep down...

"So.. Sasuke." Miku spoke up, ripping up handfuls of grass and throwing them into one big pile. "Do you um.. want to train or something..."  
She trailed off, feeling strangely intimidated by the Uchiha.  
Sasuke gave her a long, strange look before smirking. "I thought you'd never ask."  
Miku smiled, a very small smile, and stood herself up dusting all the grass and pieces of a dandelion she just shredded off of her kimono.  
Sasuke ran to one side of the field while Miku backed up to the other end.  
'How am I going to fight Sasuke Uchiha?' She mentally asked herself. 'I know I'm gonna lose.'  
'This should be interesting. Fire against fire.' Sasuke thought, getting into a fighting stance.  
"Three..."  
"Two..."  
"One..."  
And they were off.  
Sasuke ran full speed towards Miku with kunai in hand, while Miku stood her ground.  
'Oh my god what was I thinking!' She thought in a panic, doing a barrel roll to avoid being pelted by kunai. 'I am going to die!'  
She was scared of hurting Sasuke, but even more scared of being hurt by Sasuke.  
Miku jumped over Sasuke's head and punched him in the back sending him stumbling forwards, but he recovered quickly and came back with his own fists raised.  
He punched her in the arm twice and then tried for an uppercut which she managed to bend backwards far enough to avoid. When Miku bent backwards, he lost his balance and began to fall towards her. She took this as an opportunity to strike by grabbing him and flipping him overtop of her.  
Sasuke landed on the ground and made a sound that was strangely inhuman.  
"Oh my god Sasuke are you okay?!" Miku yelled, walking towards him to check and see if he was injured.  
Bad mistake.  
Sasuke grabbed her by the ankles and pulled her down with him.  
"This.. is war Uchiha." She said while rolling away from him. She performed a variety of hand signs, forcing all her chakra to her feet.  
"Great Earth Barrier Jutsu!"  
The ground beneath Sasuke's feet began to tremble, and all at once large pillars of stone began to rise around him trapping him in a pyramid prison.  
"Miku.. what the hell?" He screamed, tapping on the stone.  
"I'm sorry... I just um, panicked..." She said, taking a few steps back. She could hear Sasuke banging on the rock trying to break free, the small hole at the top was the only source of light and oxygen.  
After a few minutes the banging died down and she grew rather worried.  
"Sasuke...?" She asked, hesitantly approaching the pyramid of stone. She slowly crept forward until she was a few feet away, straining her ears listening for a sound, anything.  
"Sasuke...?!" She repeated, feeling the panic and worry build up inside of her. She was about to dispel the jutsu when a hand suddenly shot up from the Earth beneath her feet and grabbed onto her ankle.  
She let out a startled scream and looked down to see Sasuke's torso sticking out of the ground.  
"Nice try. You're not the only one who knows some Earth jutsu." He said rather smugly. She kicked her ankle free and jumped backwards, creating some space between them.  
"Fire Style!" Sasuke yelled, performing hand signs.  
Miku followed suit.  
"Phoenix Flower Jutsu\Tidal Flame Jutsu!" They yelled simultaneously.  
Sasuke began to spit out fireballs towards Miku, who was hit by the majority of then. Her tidal flame barely missed Sasuke, just searing his legs slightly.  
Miku held onto her shoulder where the worst of the burns was.  
"Ow, I hate being burned..." She muttered between clenched teeth. A sudden shadow formed overtop of her, and she looked up in time to see Sasuke's silhouette about to crash down onto her. With one last act of desperation she grabbed leapt into the air, colliding into him and causing them both to come toppling ot the ground.

"Oh... are you.. alright?" She asked, looking down into startled black eyes.  
"Miku... you're..." Sasuke couldn't get the words out. Miku raised an eyebrow in confusion, she wasn't entirely sure what was wrong with him. She never heard the Great Sasuke Uchiha stutter before.  
Then she realized they were in the cowgirl position. She felt her face heat up within seconds.  
"I am so sorry!" She squeaked quickly rolling off of him. He sat up, the embarrassment was obvious.  
"So um..." He said, brushing some soot off his arm. "You got me good."  
Miku looked over and noticed the burn on his legs was worse than she had originally thought.  
"Sasuke I'm..."  
"It's alright. I got you pretty good didn't I." He said, trying ot act tough. In reality, the burn hurt like a bitch.  
Miku bit her lip. She burned him really good, and she could heal him with no problem at all. The problem was... nobody knows she has a kekkei genkai.  
However, she was the cause of the wound on his legs so she at least owed it to him to heal it. Besides, Sasuke isn't one to gossip.  
Is he?  
"I can fix that." She admitted, turning towards him.  
He raised an eyebrow. "You? Can fix this?"  
She nodded. But.. you have to promise not to say anything..."  
Sasuke eyed her suspiciously, then hesitantly nodded himself.  
Miku held her hands together so they made a triangle, the tips of her thumbs were touching while the tips of her fingers were together.  
"Kyumeigan!" She called out, feeling the areas around her eyes heat up. It's been a while since she had to activate her kekkei genkai.  
Sasuke's eyes widened when she opened her eyes. Instead of being a bright blue colour just like her hair was, they were instead an assortment of colours. HE couldn't quite tell which colour they were, because each second they seemed to chance. One minute, white with a tint of pink, the next a tint of blue, then green, then red.  
She held her hands overtop of Sasuke's injured leg, one hand at each end of the injury and then focused her chakra to the palms of her hands. This wasn't going to take much chakra to heal.  
Once the right ammount of chakra was gathered, she forced it out through her palms to form a white light, connected between both of her palms and directly overtop of Sasuke's burned leg. He could feel it working, at first it hurt a lot, and then it began to fade, and then it tingled and then it was gone.  
"How did you...?" He wasn't sure waht to say. He hadn't heard of the Kyumeigan until the other day when Kakashi-sensei had mentioned it. And now he sees it in person, and the possessor is Miku of all people.  
"I found out I had it when I was 8." She admitted, working on her own wounds now. "My cat was bitten by a badger and I... cried, and wanted to heal her. I just imagined myself, you know, healing her wounds and then... they were suddenly gone."  
He stared at her in amazement, watching as she worked.  
"Who all knows?" He wondered, studying his now completely uninjured leg.  
"Just you and I. My mother told me never to show who in my clan has and who does not have the Kyumeigan. Because..., well... the power to heal any injury, is a power.. that a lot of people would wish to have I guess." She explained, standing up and dusting herself off.  
Sasuke understood completely. A lot of people out there would probably kill to have the Sharingan in their possession, the power to copy and learn any jutsu just by observation.  
"Promise me that... you won't tell anyone.. please?" She asked quietly, playing with her pony tail.  
Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah sure like I'd tell anyone."

* * *

Much to Miku's surprise, Sasuke ended up walking her home.  
She still lived alone in the abandoned Tatsuki manor, while Sasuke had his own apartment, refusing to live in the abandoned still blood-stained Uchiha compound.  
"Thanks.. you d-didn't um, have to walk me home though.." She said quietly, her eyes focused on the dirt beneath her feet.  
Sasuke made some sort of Pfft-tch sound. "I only came so I could see where you lived."  
Miku looked up at him with a shocked expression. Sasukes' face turned bright red when he realized what he said.  
"SO, you know, I can come see if you want to train sometimes..." He said, recovering from embarrassment. "You're a cool kid to train with."  
Miku smiled. "Yeah.. thanks you too."  
"I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Sasuke said, turning to head to his own apartment.  
"Yeah.. see you Sasuke." She said quietly, sliding open the door to her place.  
Inside she devoured an entire pot of rice and half a bottle of pickles, as well as an entire pitcher of sweet tea. She was starving!  
Afterwards she ran to the bath house to wash up real quick, and then changed into her sweatpants and over-sized shirt she usually wore to bed.  
While she was laying there under the covers, she couldn't stop thinking about a certain Uchiha.  
"He's so nice..." She spoke to herself, playing with her long blue braid. "He's kind when he wants to be. He.. actually notices me."  
She began to think about what he had said to her earlier.

_"You don't think I notice you?" He was looking right at her. "I'm not like the other fools in this village I actually do notice people.."_

It was then that Miku Tatsuki realized that she was developing a crush on Sasuke.  
She felt her face heat up. "What do I do?" She asked her pillow. "I can't like Sasuke... he's, well, Sasuke."  
After a long, heated argument with herself she eventually came to terms with the fact that she, in fact, liked Sasuke Uchiha.  
Only a bit though. But it was enough.  
"Oh Miku. You're an idiot." She said, before rolling over to go to sleep.

At the same time, on the other side of Konoha, Sasuke Uchiha was also thinking about Miku.  
"She's not annoying. Well, I shouldn't say that. She's not _**as**_ annoying as Sakura." He told himself, throwing on his shorts he liked to sleep in on warm days. "And she doesn't like me, which is a total relief."  
He decided today that he actually liked Miku, just as a friend though. She was a nice person when she wasn't stammering like an idiot, and he actually enjoyed fighting her today.  
On top of that her Kyumeigan will prove to be useful in the future.  
"Finally, a normal woman in this town." He said with a smirk before shutting off the light. "Miku Tatsuki.. normal? Who would have thought.."


	5. The Day Off

Today squad 7 had the day off.  
Miku had decided to go for a walk and enjoy the fresh air.  
She wore her long blue hair braided and pulled over to the side, and she was wearing a white baby doll dress and black shorts underneath. The weather has been a lot cooler lately, because it was now fall, so she wore a light grey sweater overtop.  
"What do.. I do by myself?" she had grown accustomed to always being around her team mates, and even though they never really got along, she was feeling lonely not having them around.  
"I wonder what they're doing..."

At the same time, Sasuke was also taking a stroll through Konoha.  
He was wearing a simple white polo shirt that he left unbuttoned, and some dark blue pants. His hitai-ate was at home and not on his head causing his bangs to fall over his forehead.  
"Tch, stupid hair." He scoffed, blowing his bangs out of his face.  
He wasn't sure where he was going, he just didn't wanna be alone in his apartment.  
Sasuke would never admit it to anybody, hell he won't even admit it to himself, but he was always lonely. Ever since Itachi did what he did he's been all alone, no friends, no family, he's never even had a girlfriend.  
"I wonder what that loser, Naruto is doing.." He wondered out loud to himself. He never thought he'd consider asking Naruto to hang out with him, nor would he ever for that matter, but he really didn't mind Naruto as much as he claimed he did. He was somebody to talk to, and to hang out with.  
Sasuke shook his head, there was no way he would never stoop so low as to ask Naruto to hang out with him, no matter how lonely he felt.  
"What am I to do today then?" He asked himself, kicking a rock down the street.  
"Ouch!" A female voice yelled in front of him.  
Sasuke stopped. He had hit a woman in the leg with the rock that he had just kicked.  
'Smooth Uchiha.' He thought, approaching the woman to apologize.  
"I'm sorry I di- Miku?"  
Miku stood up straight, staring at Sasuke in confusion.  
"Oh.. hi Sasuke. You..you hit me with a rock..." She pouted, rubbing the dirt off her leg. It wasn't bleeding, or swollen but there was a small mark there.  
"Hn. Sorry I didn't realize I kicked it that hard."  
"It's.. alright I guess. I'm not bleeding or anything so..." She had to stop herself from talking and avert her gaze to hide the blush that was creeping onto her face.  
She had never seen Sasuke in civilian clothes before, and she rarely saw him without his headband on. She had always thought him to be handsome, and after her realization the other day she was more than aware of how extremely good looking Sasuke Uchiha was.  
"Hey, you okay?" He asked, walking over to her.  
Miku patted her face with her hands a few times to make sure the blush was gone, and then turned to Sasuke with a smile.  
"Yeah I'm okay! Perfect, never been better." She said putting her hands behind her back.  
He raised an eyebrow. "Right..." she was acting weirder than normal.  
"So, um.. where are you going?" She asked, smoothing out the invisible wrinkles in her dress.  
"Nowhere really." Sasuke said shoving his hands in his pockets. It was difficult, because his pants were abnormally tight, but he needed to keep his_ "I'm cool"_ image up and managed to force them in.  
"Oh I see.. Well, I'm not really doing anything either so... I um... we could..could..could um, hang out maybe?" Miku stammered, tucking a stray curl behind her ear.  
He raised an eyebrow. Did Miku just ask him to hang out? Since when did she ever want to hang out with people?  
Come to think of it, the only people he's ever seen her hang out with are him, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei.  
She was probably just as lonely as Sasuke was..  
Of course Sasuke wanted to hang out with Miku, it would give them both something to do and he could usually tolerate being around her, but he couldn't just say _"Hell yeah!"_ because, that would make him appear weak, so he decided to mask his desire to hang out with her with sheer coolness.  
"I guess. I have nothing better to do anyways." He said shoving his hands further into his pockets, crushing his fingers in the process. His pants were way too tight.  
"Stupid pants.." He cursed causing Miku to glance at him in confusion. He just shrugged it off and tried his best to ignore his fingers pleas for help.  
"So what do-"  
"SASUKEEEEEE-KUUUNNNN WHERE AARREEE YOOOUUUU?!"

"Oh shit!" Sasuke cursed, whipping his head around. He could just make out the pink and yellow hair from a distance.  
It was Sakura and Ino.  
"What's going on?" Miku asked, completely unaware of his two number-one stalkers.  
He turned to her with wide eyes full of fear. "Sakura and Ino that's what's going on."  
Before anything else could be said, another "SASUKE-KUN!" was heard, and this time it was a lot closer.  
They both turned around to see Ino and Sakura standing behind them, shooting glares at one another.  
"Give it up forehead, Sasuke-kun is mine!" Ino shouted.  
"Yeah right Ino-pig, dream on! You're forgetting who was on his team!" Sakura replied.  
"You were on his team for one day and then you got kicked off cause you're useless." Ino yelled.  
"Only because I was blinded by love!" Sakura screamed.  
In the middle of the fight Sasuke began to creep away, pushing Miku along with him trying his hardest to silent escape.  
However it was not meant to be.  
"Where are you going, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked all innocent and sweet.  
"Yeah, who are you with, Sasuke-kun?" Ino asked. Suddenly, they both noticed the bright blue hair.  
"You're with her?!" They yelled simultaneously, jabbing fingers in their direction.  
Miku swallowed her nervousness. Ino and Sakura have both been her tormenters since they were little, and Sakura was sure to hate her even more now that she got the spot on squad 7 and not Sasuke.  
"Sasuke-kun, why are you with her?!" Ino yelled, taking a few steps forward. Miku could almost see the steam shooting out of her ears she was so mad. She wouldn't dare look Sakura in the eyes, she could literally feel her intense glare.  
"Miku." Sakura sneered. "Please be kind and leave."  
Miku looked up in confusion. "Ex...excuse me?"  
"You heard me. Sasuke-kun and I need to be alone... take Ino-pig with you." She said turning towards Sasuke. "Now we can finally be alone."

Sasuke was pissed off.  
Sakura and Ino were his two least favourite people in all of Konoha, scratch that, the entire world! He would rather be locked in a room with his older brother for an entire year rather than be around them for one second.  
On top of that they were being unbelievably rude to Miku, who had done nothing to them.  
Normally he would take this cat-fight as an opportunity to slip away unnoticed and brood by himself, but he was actually looking forward to hanging out with Miku, a friend and decided he had had enough.  
"Sakura.." He spoke rather bitterly.  
She looked over at him with big bright eyes. "Yes, Sasuke-kun?" As usual she failed to notice that he wasn't in a good mood.  
"You're so annoying... I'm clearly busy, with Miku." He stated, shooting her an icy glare. "Now if you'll excuse me, we'll be off."  
He turned on his heel, wrapping an arm around Miku and guiding her away from the two stunned women.  
They could just faintly hear "Oh my god!" and "How dare she steal my Sasuke-kun."  
The whole encounter was extremely awkward for Miku. If Sakura and Ino hated her before, they definitely did now.  
"I hate women." Sasuke groaned when he was far enough away. "They're so annoying."  
Miku felt her heart sink a little bit. She felt extremely foolish, now that she liked Sasuke too. She felt even more foolish thinking he'd ever like her back.  
Sure, she didn't like him because of his looks, but because of how kind he was when it was just the two of them.  
Maybe it was because they were young, or maybe she was just a foolish girl, but she thought that maybe,  
he liked her too.  
'Yeah right...' She thought sadly, kicking some dirt around with her feet. 'I'm an idiot.'

* * *

The two of them walked together in silence until they came to Sasuke's apartment.  
"I need to go grab something." He said when they stopped. "You coming?"  
Miku hadn't expected him to invite her in, she was prepared to hang around on the front steps.  
"Uh.. yeah, yeah sure.." she said following him in.  
Sasuke's apartment was plain. The walls were white, he had the usual sink, fridge, stove, cupboard combination in the kitchen. His livingroom had a couch and a book-case. His bedroom door was shut but she assumed that he had a bed and at least a dresser.  
"Sit wherever you like." He said flatly, walking off into his bedroom.  
"O..Okay."  
Sasuke had been gone for a total of 15 minutes before he came back out, this time he had a black sweater on and a pair of baggy shorts. His pants were way too tight and he had enough of the finger crushing.  
It also constricted the blood-flow to certain areas of his body.

"So...um.." Miku began, twisting her braid around her fingers. "W-what do you think of um.. Sakura and..and Ino?  
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Why did she care?  
"They're annoying." He answered, sitting down on the couch beside Miku. "I hate every girl in this town who likes me, especially them."  
She felt like she had been punched in the stomach. He had been so sweet, well sort of sweet, just a few day earlier. But it was expected of him to have no interest in girls.  
"I see..." She said.  
"Why do you ask?"  
"I..um, was just wondering I guess..." She said, trying to hide how let-down she was feeling. "Girls seem to really like you huh?  
"Yeah..." He said. "I have no interest in girls right now though, I need to focus on my ninja studies."  
Miku nodded. It was true, this part of their life was the most important. Every shinobi has to take the art of being a ninja seriously, and depending on how great you want to become or how badly you want it, sometimes you have to give 101% of your time and attention to your studies and training.

"That makes a lot of sense." Miku said. "But sometimes it's nice to.. you know, make friends and... date on the side. You're still human..."  
Truthfully, Sasuke had thought about this often, especially now that he was going through puberty. Growing up he never really had a friend, and he's never had a girlfreind and it would be nice to see what it was like to have one or the other, but he knew that they would only slow him down in achieving his goal.  
"I have no time for friends or romance."He spat. "They're both a complete waste of time."  
He regretted those words the moment he saw the hurt in Miku's eyes.  
"Oh.. I understand." She said, trying not to let how hurt she felt show in her words. "I'll leave I guess..."  
Sasuke opened his mouth to protest but she stood up and rushed out of his apartment so fast he barely had enough time to process it all.  
"Smooth Uchiha..." He said, burying his face in his hands. "Smooth..."  
Miku had been trying really hard lately to be friends with him. When they went on missions she tried to make small talk but most of the time she just stuttered and asked a lot of random questions. Even today she had spoken more than usual, and was only trying to be friendly and he ruined all her efforts by opening his big mouth.  
"I need to learn how to think before I speak." He told himself.

* * *

"I'm an idiot." Miku decided when she finally stopped walking.  
She had practically ran away from Sasuke's apartment, and ended up at a river on the outskirts of town.  
"Why did I.. open my big mouth?" She asked her reflection. "Why do I care?"  
Miku knew why she cared. She had only known Sasuke for just over a month now and even though 90% of the time he was a complete jerk and 5% of the time he was bipolar and weird, the other 5% he was actually kind.  
He paid attention to her.  
"That doesn't mean he cares..." She said, frowning at her reflection in the water. "You need to learn how to be more social Miku..."  
She had tried forcing herself to be more social but it was difficult given the childhood she endured...

_"You must remain polite at all times when speaking to me young lady!"  
*crack*  
"Miku Tatsuki if you are to remain in this household you must do exactly as you are told!"  
*crack*  
"How many times do I have to tell you, speak only when you are spoken to!"  
*crack*  
"I did not give you permission to speak."  
*crack*_

Her hand shot up to grab her shoulder that now throbbed with the memory.  
"Speak.. only when spoken to..." She repeated.  
"What was that?" A voice spoke up.  
Her head shot around to see Sasuke standing behind her, hands in his pockets.  
"N..nothing." She quickly returned her hands to her lap. "What..are you doing h-here?"  
The last part was spoken in barely a whisper.  
"Looking for you." He stated bluntly.  
"Me? Why..?" She wondered. Didn't he just tell her he didn't need friends?  
What was he going to say to her? _"I came to find you because I'm an ass and I really do want to be your friend."_?  
Pfft, yeah right that's not a Sasuke-Uchiha thing to say.  
"I didn't mean what I said earlier." He told her, sitting down beside her. "Sorry."  
Miku's lips twitched up into a smile. She couldn't help it, he had a funny look on his face, like he was embarrassed for having to apologize.  
"It's okay." She said, swirling water with her foot. "You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to."  
Sasuke looked over at her. Her long blue, curly hair was braided together and thrown over her shoulder, while her bangs and fringes that are too short whisped about wildly. He could see the reflection of the water in her bright blue eyes causing them to sparkle.  
She really was pretty, and naturally pretty too. He wondered how he didn't notice before...  
"It's not that I don't want to be your friend.." He spoke up. "I've just.. never had a real friend before."

Both Sasuke and Miku were shocked by this sudden outbursts. Did Sasuke just say that?  
Did he want a friend?  
Was it even possible?  
"Well..." Miku spoke up, twisting her braid around in her fingers. "I don't really have a... a friend.. either."  
They both turned to look at each other, their eyes meeting for a split second. A strange feeling washed over both of them at that moment.  
"I guess you're okay." Sasuke said after he caught his breath. "Just try not to get on my nerves."  
Miku could see the hint of a smile on his lip when he said this to her.  
"I'll try... but I.. can't promise anything." She said, a smile spreading across her face.

* * *

***Sup?  
I know Sasuke's OOC but I can't write in the point of view of somebody who's as emotionally handicapped as Sasuke Uchiha. _'  
I don't know if Konoha has a river but it does now.  
Review and PM people!  
**


	6. Mission With Team Gai Part 1

***I'd like to apologize for my lack of updating. My 8 year old brother has recently discovered Youtube and kidnapped and held my laptop hostage.  
No joke.  
Him and his Minecraft videos -_-  
Anyways! Enjoy!**

* * *

"Is he... serious?..." Miku asked completely astonished. She was silently praying to whatever god or goddess out there that had control over bad decisions and crazy sensei's.  
"I.. think he is." Naruto said, his eye twitching out of control.  
Sasuke stood with his mouth hanging open.  
Squad 7 was not impressed.

Kakashi-sensei was known to his squad as a really weird but powerful sensei. Today they decided he was more weird than he was strong.  
"What seems to be the problem?" He asked flashing them a toothy grin that could be seen even through the mask. Everytime Kakashi-sensei smiled through his mask his mouth seemed to be a different shape and size, maybe that was why he wears the mask all the time.  
"You...you...you..." Naruto stuttered "You... you... you you..."  
"Me... me me?" Kakashi-sensei mocked.  
"Sensei please don't do this to us." Miku pleaded.  
But the three genin of squad 7 knew that no amount of pleading, begging and bribing would change their sensei's mind.  
They were going on a mission with Team Gai.

Team 7 isn't very fond of Team Gai. On account of them being extremely competitive, stuck-up and arrogant.  
Miku wasn't very fond of Tenten, as she looked down at Miku as if she were nothing more than a ladybug walking beneath her feet. And while Miku tried her very hardest to ignore Tenten, Tenten wouldn't let Miku slide passed her that easily. She was always following her around, taunting her and doing her very best to make Miku feel uncomfortable.  
And it always worked.  
Sasuke and Neji were born to be rivals. Neji Hyuga was the top genin in Konoha while Sasuke was considered to be either his equal or runner-up.  
So you can imagine that the tension between them came naturally.  
As for Rock Lee and Naruto, well..  
Both of them are eager to beat both Sasuke and Neji in a fight, and because both of them want to fight the same two guys, they're constantly getting in each other's way.  
"Kaaaaaakaaaashiiiiiiiiiiiiii i!"  
A loud booming voice bounced off the trees and echoed through the air.  
"Hello Gai." Kakashi greeted lazily, not bothering to look up from his book. "Hello students of Gai."  
"Yo." All three said at once.  
"I don't wanna do this." Miku whispered to Sasuke. "Tenten makes me uncomfortable..."  
"Tch. How do you think I feel... Like I wanna spend the day with those three." He gestured to Naruto, Neji and Rock Lee.  
Rock Lee and Naruto were having push up competitions, in which Naruto was losing horribly. Neji stood behind them giving them a look that Miku see's permanently plastered on Sasuke's face.  
"This is gonna be a long day." He sighed, walking towards the rest of the group.  
Miku had no intentions of following Sasuke, but after seeing the look Tenten was giving her she took off after him as fast as she could.  
She needed a witness.

"Now isn't this nice?! The wind is blowing through our hair, the spirit of youth is thick with these young ones, and you, my old rival, are looking as healthy as ever!" Gai yelled, striking a series of strange and awkward-looking poses.  
Kakashi wasn't paying attention, absorbed in his book.  
"So Miku..." Tenten began, walking up beside her. "Any stronger yet?"  
Miku's bright blue eyes slowly lifted up until she met Tenten's chocolate-brown orbs, staring down at her filled with mischief.  
"I'm um... okay. I'm still the same I think, I guess, I mean..." She panicked. "I gotta go!"  
She picked up speed and ran up beside Sasuke, who was walking behind Naruto and Neji.  
Apparently Naruto has been taunting Neji all morning, while Neji has been completely toning him out, acting like he doesn't exist.  
That was just making Naruto even more mad.

"Hi." Miku squeaked, checking over her shoulders to see Tenten gazing at her curiously.  
"Hey." Sasuke greeted, not looking over at her. "Tenten bugging you yet?"  
"Mmhmm.." She replied, fussing with the sleeves of her kimono. "Where's um.. Rock Lee and-and Kakashi sensei and the other... one."  
"You mean Gai? Rock Lee and Gai took off ahead, yelling something about needing to get there before the rest of us. Kakashi-sensei vanished awhile back but I'm sure he'll be back eventually. If he leaves us with these freak-shows I'm going to burn his house down." Sasuke said, in a tone of complete seriousness.  
Miku couldn't resist laughing at that. "I see. What is our mission again?" She asked, searching for her hair ribbon she usually keeps inside her obi.  
"Freeing hostages or kidnapping victims. Something like that I wasn't really paying attention..." He told her.  
"...where did I put it? I never leave home without my ribbon..." Miku wasn't really paying attention to Sasuke, she was too preoccupied talking to herself about her missing hair ribbon.  
"What are you going on about?" He asked, semi-irritated that she was ignoring him. It was one thing for Sasuke to ignore others, hell it was actually natural for him to ignore others, but when they ignored him that drove him up the wall.  
"I left my hair ribbon at home..." She pouted, giving up. "Now what do I do?"  
Sasuke sighed. Why girls fussed to much over their hair and appearance was beyond him.  
"You'll survive. Besides I think you look better with your hair down anyways." He said, looking over at her.  
Miku was staring up at him with wide eyes. Did he just compliment her? It wasn't really a compliment but, it was still unusual for Sasuke to say anything nice about anyone especially another female.  
Miku reached up to pat her hair. Her hair reached passed her waist and was an abnormal cross between curly and wavy, and always ended up frizzy and unmanageable, so she always wore it in a long braid or a high pony tail.  
How could he think she looked better with her hair down?  
If he was being honest, then he must have terrible eyesight...

Before Miku could reply, Naruto and his big mouth distracted everyone.  
"I'M TALKING TO YOU HYUGA! I, NARUTO UZUMAKI, WILL BECOME THE NEXT HOKAGE AND WHEN I DO I WILL BANISH YOU FROM MY COUNTRY!" He screamed, arms flailing wildly.  
"Now Naruto.. if you do ever become Hokage, you won't have the power to banish Neji from the country.." Miku commented.  
"Yeah! The most you can do is send him on really lame missions." Tenten spoke up, coming up beside Miku and Sasuke.  
Miku flinched and walked closer to Sasuke, trying to create space between her and her tormentor.  
"What's wrong Miku-chan?" Tenten sneered, getting closer to her. "You nervous? Think your boyfriend will protect you?"  
"Leave me alone!" She screamed, taking off ahead of everyone leaving some very curious and confused faces.

* * *

"Lee my wonderful student!" Gai yelled triumphantly. "We're almost there, and at record time."  
"Yes Gai-sensei! We will show Kakashi's team, as well as Neji, who is the best around here!" Lee said, picking up speed to run beside his sensei.  
"Lee you truly are my best student!" Gai replied shining Lee a toothy grin, which Lee returned.  
"Pretty soon we'll be there and Kakashi and his squad will be-" He was cut off by a blue blur shooting passed the pair of then, sending dust and all sorts of mountain debris up into the air.  
"What was that?!" They both wondered out loud at the same time.

When Gai and his mini-me arrived at the outskirts of the village, they had expected to be alone.  
They were both surprised to see Miku sprawled out on the ground out of breath.  
"What is this?!" Gai asked\yelled very obnoxiously "One of Kakashi's students made it here before we did?!"  
Rock Lee didn't say anything, he was too stunned.  
"I...Tenten...ran...had to get away... tired... sleep now." She wheezed trying to catch her breath. Her lungs felt like they were on fire, about to explode at any given minute.  
"Lee I can't believe we were bested by Kakashi's student! And not the strong one at that!" Gai said, making a fist. "We must now discipline ourselves to running 1000 laps around this village!"  
"Yes Gai sensei!" Lee replied, also making a fist. The two of them both burst into flames before running off into the nearby woods.  
"So weird." Miku breathed, feeling herself grow rather sleepy. "Sleep now."

About 30 minutes after this scene unfolded, the rest of the gang showed up.  
Miku was curled up on the grass having a nap, while the blurred green figures of Rock Lee and Gai sped passed them.  
"Nine hundred and ninety-eight!" Gai yelled, as he ran passed them.  
"What on Earth are they doing?" Naruto wondered, picking his ear and flicking it onto the grass. "Man we sure do have some weird people in our village."  
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine! Come on Lee you can do it!"  
"Yes Gai-sensei!"  
Sasuke wasn't paying attention to the terrible duo in green spandex, he was watching Miku sleeping peacefully on the ground.  
She was curled into the fetal position, hugging her long thick hair as if it were a stuffed toy.  
"OOOOONNNNEEEEEEE THOOOUUUSSSSAAAAANNNNNDDDDDD D!" Gai finished, landing beside Miku's still sleeping body.  
"YES!" Lee cheered, doing a dance.  
Mikus eyes opened.  
"Ugh.." she groaned, pulling herself up into the sitting position. Every muscle in her body felt like it was going to explode. She had used up so much chakra and pushed herself so hard just to run as far away form Tenten as she could she was mentally and phsically exhausted.

"I've never in all my years seen a student run as fast as you did." Kakashi-sensei's said as he suddenly appeared beside Gai.  
Miku felt her face turn fifteen shades of red.  
"I uh... didn't mean to. I'm so tired now." She stuttered, twirling her hair around he finger.  
"I'd imagine. You pushed your body to it's limit and used up all your chakra at that. Not to worry, I scouted ahead and found a nice clearing to set up camp at. You can rest there."  
She nodded in agreement, even though she truly did not feel like moving at all. She wanted to tell the others to go ahead without her and to let her sleep a bit but she didn't want to give Tenten another reason to bother her more than she already does.  
Plus she didn't want to appear weak in front of the others.  
"Right.. now that this little.. marathon of weirdness is over, we can keep going." Neji said swiftly walking ahead of everyone else. Sasuke felt his blood boil instantly. Neji always acted so tough, like he was better than everyone else. Is that how others saw Sasuke?  
If it was, he wondered why people even bothered to give him the time of day, acting that arrogant.  
Maybe he should loosen up a little..

* * *

"So tired. Mm tea..." Miku smiled, blowing on her cup of tea. It was a special blend the owner of the tea shop back in Konoha made for her, using a mixture of all sorts of herbs and tea leaves.  
"Tea is the greatest thing alive." She said happily taking a sip. "Ooh I detect a hint of mint.. lemon grass, jasmine and is that vanilla?"  
"Stop talking to yourself you're giving me the creeps." Naruto sneered, shoving an abnormal quantity of ramen into his mouth. "Goofh ooh ah shooooooo weed." He mumbled between chews.  
Miku didn't bother replying, she knew he either insulted her or said something that made absolutely no sense.  
Sasuke had it a fire and him, Naruto, Miku, and Lee were all sitting around munching on some ramen or sipping warm cups of tea. Neji and Tenten wandered off into the bushes somewheres while the sensei's vanished some time ago.  
"It sure is quiet." Miku commented. "Aren't there animals here?"  
"I do not think so." Lee said, shoving a riceball into his mouth. He made sure that he chewed thoroughly before swallowing, as he knew that it was polite to do so. "This mountain path is hope to many bandits, thieves, rogue ninja's and the sort. All the animals that once took refuge here have long since fled the area."  
The mention of thieves and bandits sent a shiver up her spine.  
"So... there's.. um, people like that still...here." She squeaked. Her wonderful tea no longer made her feel happy.  
"Don't worry too much." Sasuke said, tossing a log onto the fire. "We have two jounin with us, if you can even call them that."  
"How dare you insult Gai-sensei like that!" Lee shouted, shocked that anyone could even think little of Gai-sensei. "Gai-sensei is an amazing man! He is smart, and strong, and believed in me when no-"  
Sasuke stopped listening because he got up and walked away from the group.

Sasuke Uchiha has been having weird thoughts lately.  
And no not those thoughts. He's 13 he's been having those thoughts for 3 years now.  
But anyways...  
He was always perfectly content being on his own. No friends, no family, no problem.  
However, lately the loneliness that he kept bottled inside, that's slowly been eating at him for the past 6 years, is starting to take over.  
And he finds himself wanting to reach out, open up and be more social. Especially with Miku and Naruto.  
It was a headache if anything.  
"They'll only slow me down." He told himself, kicking a rock down the path ahead of him."..and prevent me from achieving my goal." He let out a heavy sigh. "Stupid feelings..."  
Then he remembered Miku, and how hurt she looked the other week at his house when he said he didn't need friends.  
They've gotten a lot closer recently, hanging out during and after missions, training together on weekends and they even went on a long walk around town once. He considered her to be his friend.  
His one and only friend.  
"I guess one friend won't hurt..." Sasuke told himself, stopping at the edge of a small pond. "She's the only person in Konoha I can tolerate being around these days. And she makes the loneliness go away a little..."  
But what would he do if he ended up having to choose between Miku and his one true goal in life? Would he be able to give up one for the other?  
"What a stupid thought!" He said, rubbing his hands through his hair. "That would never happen to me, not in a million years."  
It was true, the chances of him growing so close to Miku that he would have a difficult time choosing between strength and revenge or love and friendship were one in nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine.  
It would never happen.  
Why would he have to choose anyways? It's not like one affects the other.  
"You need to stop thinking Uchiha." Sasuke said, sitting down on the grass. "When you think, you start to have thoughts and feelings and those... are just gonna slow you down."

"I think I'm far enough..." Miku said, stopping at the edge of a pond not far from the others.  
Tenten and Neji came back shortly after Sasuke had stormed off, and before Tenten could even think of was to torture Miku she too had got up and ran away.  
"I'm such a coward..." She sighed, sitting down on the ground. "Why am I.. such a coward?" She asked herself, pulling her knees up to her chest.  
"I know why..." she said quietly. "It's because I'm scarred..."

_"Mikoto! You dare to leave the house without my permission? You have dishonoured me!" Masumi Tatsuki, the head of the Tatsuki clan yelled, the bamboo stick raised in his hand.  
Mikoto, his wife, remained in the kneeling position at her feet.  
"Forgive me Masumi-san, Miku has an infected cut on her knee so I went to fetch her some antibiotics..."She explained, feeling the tears well up in her eyes. She quickly blinked them back, for fear her husband should see.  
"You have dishonoured me!" He yelled, and quickly brought the bamboo rod down onto his wives back with a sickening snap.  
6 year old Miku watched in horror as her father beat her mother for the 4th time this week.  
"Father please!" She shouted, running out from her hiding spot beneath the stairs. "It was my fault, stop hitting mother!"  
"You brat!" Masumi yelled, hitting Miku on the shoulder with his rod. "You dare speak to your father that way, and without permission nonetheless."  
"I'm sorry father! I don't like to see you hit mother." She said, choking back tears.  
"You won't have to anymore. For now it's your turn..."He said, as the bamboo rod came down once more._

_"Mother..."Miku asked, wincing as one of her cousins applied antiseptic to the gash on her back. "Why do we live like this?"  
She had asked her mother this many times, and each time she refused to provide an answer.  
This time she spoke up.  
"Because this is how we were meant to live." She explained, wiping the blood off of Miku's shoulder with a rag. "In this world, women were made to obey men. They must speak only when spoken to and given permission, they must only act when given permission to do so, they must never anger a man. If she does, she deserves to be beaten."  
Miku couldn't believe her ears, is this really how her mother was raised? Is this really what she believes?  
"But mother! That's not right! We shouldn't be slaves to men we should be equals, we should be-"  
"Enough!" Her mother cut her off. "Do not say such things, your father might hear."  
Her mother said nothing more to Miku and Miku said nothing more to her mother for a very long time. After the wounds were cleaned and dressed, she rose to leave the room.  
"Don't ever forget Miku." Her mother had told her before she left the room. "Women are made to obey men. The Tatsuki's have always believed this, and the world once did so too. That is, until they were corrupted with the thought of equality. Never forget your place in this world, or you will not live long enough to be my age."_

The scars on her back still ached from time to time, especially when she thought about her father and the torment he put her and her mother through.  
"I wonder what my life would be like if they had never passed on..." She wondered out loud.  
"I often ask myself the same thing." A voice spoke from behind her.  
Miku quickly spun her head around to see Sasuke standing behind her, with a sad look in his eyes.  
"I often ask myself.. how different would my life be if my clan hadn't died? How would I be as a person today? I often wonder what my life would be like if I still had an older brother..."  
Miku didn't say anything. Everyone in Konoha knew the story of the Uchiha Massacre, how Sasuke's older brother had killed everyone.  
Sure she had a rough childhood, but at least she had her family up until recently.  
Sasuke grew up alone.  
"I try not to think about it too much." She said quietly, folding her hands in her lap. "It just fills my head with such sad thoughts."  
"I become filled with anger and regret." Sasuke said, sitting down beside her. "What are you doing here? Couldn't stand to be around them either?"  
She looked over at him to see a smirk plastered on his lips.  
"Tenten and Neji came back. I didn't wanna stick around for too much longer." She said, messing with her obi. It wasn't lopsided or uneven or even uncomfortable, she just didn't know what to do with her hands.  
"I wonder what tomorrow will be like." Miku wondered out loud. "I hope there's not too much fighting."  
Sasuke scoffed. "You always hope to avoid conflict. Combat is so much better."  
"Maybe to you. To me... I'm weak, and I can't really do much. I don't like fighting." She said with a sigh. "I'm not strong like you."  
"If you don't like fighting then why did you become a ninja?" Sasuke asked, his black orbs staring into her light blue ones.  
"I guess.. I just.." She began to stutter, thinking of an excuse. She realized there was no point in lying to him so she decided to just tell the truth. "I wanted to... I just needed an excuse to leave the house.. for long periods of time. So I wouldn't have to be home so much."  
Sasuke was puzzled. Why didn't Miku want to be home? If he had a family for as long as she did he would want to spend every second with them.  
"What was so bad about home?" He asked.  
"It wasn't a good place." She said, fidgeting with her sleeve. "I didn't like to be home. It was.. I just didn't like it. I was never happy there and..." She trailed off. "Anywhere was better than being at home with my family."  
Sasuke felt his blood pressure raise. How could she even think such thoughts, especially around him?  
He would give his left arm for a family, hell he would give up both his arms and his eyes just to have a family to come home to, and here she is telling him that she hated hers?  
"Just be happy you had one for as long as you did." He spat, quickly getting to his feet. His sudden change in tone was frightening.  
"I..I I don't understand." She said, also getting to her feet.  
"You have the nerve to sit there and tell _**me**_ you hated being home with your family! Are you saying you're glad that they're gone?"  
Miku came to a sudden realization. "No-no Sasuke It..It's not like that! It's-"  
"Save your excuses." He said coldly. "You're pathetic. Do me a favour, don't even try to talk to me again." He said before turning on his heel and walking off leaving Miku stunned.

* * *

That night, Sasuke came back two hours after Miku did. He went straight to sleep, without so much as a word to anyone.  
He wouldn't even look at Miku.

Miku lay in her sleeping bag, fighting back tears. The scar on her back ached much worse now than ever before.  
"If only you knew.." She whispered to noone, as a stray tear rolled down her cheek. "Why didn't I tell him...?"  
It took her longer to fall asleep than usual, her mind was racing with a thousand and one different thoughts.  
Why didn't she tell Sasuke the full story?  
It would have prevented all of this, and they would still be friends.  
Maybe he was right..  
She is pathetic.  
"Why am I even still a ninja?" She asked herself, wiping away tears as quickly as they fell. "Why am I so..."  
Everyone would be better off without her. Sasuke wouldn't be angry anymore, and Sakura wouldn't hate her as much because they would probably let her back on the team.  
"I should just.. quit."

A few feet away, a certain brunette was listening to Miku talk to herself.  
She wasn't sure why Miku was crying, or what she was talking about at that, but she knew that she was hurt and that it had to do with Sasuke.  
"Don't quit Miku..." She whispered, hoping her silent pleas would reach her. "I can fix this, I'll help you."  
But her words fell on deaf ears for Miku was too absorbed in her own thoughts to hear anything else.  
"Don't give up." Tenten whispered one last time before letting sleep consume her body.

* * *

***Yeah I know this is a weird chapter. But I wanted to add more SasukexMiku bonding time and explain a little bit of Miku's past at the same time while creating drama.  
I chose the TentenxMiku rivalry because I'm so sick of the SakuraxOC and InoXOc rivalry over Sasuke. Whatd'ya think?  
Reviews please!**


	7. Mission With Team Gai Part 2

**_Tooku hanareteru hodo ni chikaku ni kanjiteru. Samishisa mo tsuyosa eto kawatteku... kimi wo omottanara._**  
_**The further we are apart, the nearer I feel you are. Even my loneliness turns into strength... when I think of you**__.  
__Nami Tamaki - Reason_

* * *

"RISE AND SHINE WONDERFUL GENIN OF KONOHA!"  
'I swear if he yells one more time...'  
"THE EARLY BIRD ALWAYS GETS THE WORM!"  
'I am going to cry..'  
"EVERYBODY UP UP UP IT'S A NEW DAY!"  
'I really hate Gai..'

Miku forced one eye open, and then the other.  
Everyone was in the sitting position, their hair a mess, one eye open or both eyes half closed, rubbing sleep from their eyes or looking around in complete confusion.  
All except for Gai and his mini-me.  
"That's more like it." Gai said flashing everybody an over-enthusiastic and toothy grin.  
"Gai-sensei..." Tenten mumbled, her eyes both still closed. "What time is it... the sun's not even up yet."  
"Why Tenten, my lovely blossom, It's 5am!"  
"5AM?!" yelled, well, everybody..

Sasuke wasn't as mad about last night anymore.  
He had a lot of time to think about it, and he came to the conclusion that something must have happened to cause Miku to hate her family so much Atleast.. he hoped that was the case.  
But his pride and reputation was preventing him from apologizing to her.  
"She'll talk to me eventually." He told his reflection in the river while washing his face. "Then.. I'll just act like nothing happened... yeah, good start."  
"Are you sure about that?" A voice spoke up from behind him.  
Sasuke spun around startled, knocking his headband off the rock nearby and into the lake.  
"Great..." he mumbled, not even bothering to check and see who was behind him.  
"Here, let me." The voice spoke again.  
Sasuke turned his head to the right to see Tenten, elbow deep in the water fishing out his hitai-ate for him.  
"Hn. What are you doing here?" He asked, wondering why the kunoichi of team Gai suddenly decide to speak with him.  
"I heard Miku talking to herself lastnight." She explained, handing him his soaking-wet hitai-ate.  
This got his attention.  
"She said something about how she should have told you what happened, and she said you were right about her being pathetic and weak. She's thinking about giving up and leaving the squad..."

* * *

"So..." Miku began, feeling awkward. She began pulling up handfuls of grass and constructing a big pile on the ground in front of her.  
"Do you need something?" Neji asked in a tone that let Miku know he had no intentions of having a conversation with her anytime soon.  
"I just... uh... never.. nevermind." She stuttered, destroying the mountain of grass.  
"Very well." He said, turning back to.. whatever it was he was doing.  
'I guess that's what I get for trying to start a conversation with a Hyuga who's meditating...' She thought to herself, re-constructing her grass pile.

Naruto and Lee ran off into the bushes with one another to have a sparring match, while Sasuke was off brooding somewhere. Tenten vanished as well and both sensei's went for a "leisurely stroll along the mountain path." as Gai so strangely put it. That just left Neji and Miku alone at camp. Miku had never been alone with anyone like Neji Hyuga before. He made Sasuke seem like a chatterbox put on repeat.

"I wonder where.. everyone else went.." Miku spoke out loud, partly to herself and partly to Neji. It was uneasy being alone with him for so long and she needed to branch out more and make new friends. If she can talk to Sasuke, why not Neji?  
"So... um do you know... what our.. what our mission is? Our sensei never told us and... I was just... wondering." She trailed off. He was now on his feet giving Miku a look she really hated receiving.  
"You are very irritating. You remind me of my cousin." He said harshly. "I detest people who are weak like you, nor do I have any intentions of conversing with them. I'll take my leave now." He said, turning bis back to Miku and walking off down a mountain path.  
Oh right.. that's why " Not Neji."  
"Why can't I talk to anyone?" She asked herself. "I can talk to Sasuke just fine, and Naruto when he's not making fun of me..."  
Miku let out a deep sigh. "Face it you're a social outcast, and you're so weird. Why do I have to be so weird?"

"Nobody ever said you were weird, did they?"  
Miku spun her head around to come face to face with...  
"Tenten!" She yelled in surprise. "Wh-wh-what are you doing here...?"  
She was hoping Tenten would stay far away for a long time, considering all the strange looks she's been giving her this morning. Miku had a hunch that she was up to something..  
"Well.. I came to find you silly!" Tenten said, poking Miku in the side. "Say, you're feeling skinnier than usual. You haven't been starving yourself like those other nitwits in Konoha just to fit His Highness Uchiha's invisible standards are you?" She asked with a sly smirk. "My my Miku, and to think I thought you were sensible."  
There she goes again, trying to get under her skin.  
"I-I-I-I don't like Sasuke!" She yelled, flustered. "We're just friends, I mean.. we-we were but we're not now, I mean, uh..." She couldn't think of anything to say.  
Tenten's face broke out into a wide grin.  
"You're awefully excited for someone who doesn't like Sasuke and who is apparently just his friend but isn't really his friend." She said teasingly.  
Miku bit her lip. Tenten was just trying to get under her skin, and there was no way she was going to let her.  
"So.." Tenten began, sitting down on the ground beside Miku. "Wanna go for a walk?"  
Miku caught a mischievous glint in her eyes as she asked this and her defenses went up almost instantly.  
"Not really no." She said as quickly as possible.  
"Really? Word around the street is you enjoy walking, in fact I see you and Sasuke walking together all the time." She said, inching closer to her. "I think a walk would be wonderful for the two of us. All alone, in the woods, with nobody else. Just you and me..."  
Miku swallowed back nervousness.

Tenten liked Miku.  
She loved watching her squirm, and loved it even more when she stammered, stuttered and had a complete spazz attack. She never teased her for the sake of being mean, she just loved poking fun. Miku had always just assumed Tenten was a cruel malicious monster that wanted nothing more than to embarrass her to death but, that wasn't the case at all.  
Tenten could never tell Miku that, that would just ruin all the fun.  
"Come on I promise It will be fun!" She said, leaning even closer. "I won't bite."  
Miku's face was as red as her obi was by now and Tenten could tell she was probably on the verge of wetting herself.  
"I really can't Tenten, I... I... I gotta go!" And with that she leaped up onto her feet and took off over a boulder and vanished without a trace.  
"Hehe score!" Tenten cheered to herself, stretching out into a laying position. "You done good Tenten, you done good."

* * *

"So those are the genin from Konoha, sent here to free out little birdie?" A man dressed in a black hood sneered from his spot on top of the mountain.  
Him and his companion have been keeping an eye on the group since the night before.  
"It would seem so." His companion, a man in a mask chuckled. "They seem like a weak bunch don't they? Hardly worth our time."  
"But that boy down there... he's an Uchiha." The man in the hood wondered out loud, his eyes never leaving the raven-haired boy even for a split second. "He seems.. promising. Leave him to me."

"It's not nice to be spying on innocent children." Kakashi spoke up startling the two men. "I mean really, I think that's illegal."  
"Don't waste your time being a smart-ass Kakashi!" Gai shouted from beside him. "These two.. should be punished, Might-Gai style!"  
"How long have you two been standing there?" The masked man yelled, preparing himself to fight.  
"Long enough." Kakashi said, reaching up to push his mask up. "We're not about to let you target our genin like this."  
Both men began to laugh. "We're sorry but this is not our time to fight you." The man in the mask said, vanishing into a dark poof of smoke.  
"Yes indeed. Your time will come soon, Kakashi of the Sharingan eye." The man in the cloak said before also vanishing into smoke.  
"These two.. seem familiar." Kakashi announced. "I believe I've met them before."  
But Gai wasn't listening.  
"How come everybody knows who _you_ are, but they don't even seem to notice my existence?!" Gai yelled, his arms flailing all over the place. "It's not fair at all!"  
"... What are they up to?" Kakashi wondered, completely toning out Gai. "And why Sasuke? Why the genin and not us?"  
He let out a deep sigh and began working his way back down towards the mountain towards the genin.  
"This just doesn't make sense."

* * *

***Short chapter is short. I apologize.  
I don't get the laptop very often so my updates are late so sorry.  
Review please!**


	8. Mission With Team Gai Part 3

_Nan himi-deul ttae-myeon, lucky in my life. Geudae-ga kkum cheorom daga o-ne-yo.  
When things get difficult, lucky in my life. You come closer to me just like a dream.  
Ashily - Lucky_

* * *

"So what exactly is the plan, Kakashi-sensei?"  
Team Kakashi and Team Gai had finally reached their destination; An abandoned sugar mill just on the border to the Land of Fire.  
"We're breaking in and freeing hostages." Kakashi explained, He'd had that serious tone in his voice since he came back with Gai last night, and he was more demanding and in a rush to finish the mission than he was before. Everybody knew something had went down but noone dared to press the matter.  
"Hostages? COOL!" Naruto yelled in excitement. "When do we start? I wanna kick some as-"  
His excitement was cut short by a smack to the head by Tenten and Sasuke simultaneously.  
"Pipe down loser you're going to get us caught." Sasuke growled.  
"For the past year now, a group of thieves have been kidnapping women from all over this area and holding them hostages. As of recently the bodies of a few of them were discovered in the Shirakawa Stream, horribly mutilated and decayed beyond recognition. We were assigned by Lord Hokage to rescue them and finally put a stop to all of this." Gai explained.  
"But Gai-sensei!" Lee spoke up. "Why are we attempting to free them now, when we are not even sure if they are alive or if they are dead? Why did we not send people to rescue them sooner?"  
"Good question Lee." Gai said, patting his genin on the head. "The truth is we couldn't find them, until recently. We couldn't find their whereabouts, even the most trained trackers couldn't find them."  
"How come we never heard of this before?" Miku spoke up.  
"It's not something people like to bring up in an everyday conversation." Kakashi said with a smile. "Now Miku..."  
Miku gulped. The way that her sensei said her name meant that something was up, and it involved her.  
"One of these hostages is actually your cousin." He said suddenly.  
"What? M-m-my cousin? I have a relative?!" She stuttered in disbelief.  
Kakashi nodded. "Years ago your Aunt had a child, she is exactly one year and one month older than you are. Your Aunt didn't want her child to the same kind of torture that the rest of you had to endure so she had your cousin adopted by a family of traders that came through Konoha to replenish their supplies. She has lived with them for the past four years, and we received word from them that their daughter, your cousin, was kidnapped by these bandits as well. They want us to take her back to Konoha with us."  
Miku couldn't believe her ears. She had a living relative, an actual relative!  
Sure they never met, at least she thinks they never met, and she can't really be considered a Tatsuki but who cares she has family now!  
"Family..." She whispered to herself as her and her team mates moved silently through the bushes, approaching their target.  
The word sounded sweet on her lips.

Sasuke couldn't believe what he had heard.  
_"Your Aunt didn't want her child to the same kind of torture that the rest of you had to endure..."_  
That's what he had said, torture.  
_ "I didn't like to be home. It was.. I just didn't like it. I was never happy there and...anywhere was better than being at home with my family."  
_So something did happen in the Tatsuki household that made Miku hate home so much...  
'Damn it Uchiha you're such a moron.' He mentally cursed himself. He looked over to his right to see Miku laying on her stomach with a smile on her face, her eyes gave away that she was off in La-la land somewhere.  
'You need to apologize now...' He crawled over to where Miku was laying.  
"Miku..." He whispered, nudging her with his elbow. He must have caught her off guard because she flinched and let out a small squeak sound.  
"Oh S-s-s-sasuke..." She stuttered. "Wh-what is it?"  
He was mentally beating himself up now. He had finally gotten her past the stuttering-in-his-presence stage and now they're back to square one.  
"We need to talk." He said.  
Her eyes bugged out of her head, indicating she took his "We need to talk." as a warning sign.  
"Look I didn't me-" He was cut off by the sound of footsteps rustling beside them. They had missed their cue, and they were falling behind.

* * *

Kakashi-sensei had assigned them their duties once they successfully infiltrated the abandoned sugar mill. So far, they hadn't found anybody.  
Which was both a relief and means to be suspicious.  
He had decided to split the teams up accoding to abilities and specialties.  
Rock Lee, Gai and Neji were assigned direct combat with the targets, while Kakashi and Naruto were to take out any reinforcements. While the others were engaged in combat, Miku, Sasuke and Tenten were to sneak in and successfully free the hostages.  
Kakashi-sensei's reasoning was:  
Lee, Neji and Gai are the strongest hand-to-hand fighters in the group, so they were best for direct combat.  
Naruto can make multiple clones of himself to fend off any reinforcements that came and Kakashi wanted to make sure Naruto didn't kill himself while staying away from Gai and his childish competitions.  
Tenten was good at weapons, lock picking and stealth missions while Miku was naturally quiet and Sasuke was there just incase they needed a power house.  
"Where do we go from here?" Tenten asked the other two. Nobody really had any idea where they were supposed to be going, they were just assigned to located the hostages and free them.  
"I..I have no idea..." Miku whispered. She was really scared, it was dark in here and they could get jumped at any minute.  
But she couldn't let anybody else know that.  
"I'll go on ahead. If you don't hear from me in 10, something's wrong. I'll be back in a flash." Tenten said, darting off ahead into the shadows and disappearing.  
Miku let out a small whimper.

Unfortunately for her, Sasuke overheard her childish noises.  
"Are you scared?" He asked, trying to sound genuinely concerned but seeing as Sasuke Uchiha is never genuinely concerned it sounded more sarcastic than anything.  
Miku didn't respond, she lowered her eyes and turned away from him. Seeing her avoiding him like this made a sick knot form in his stomach.  
"Listen, about the other day..." He began, stepping closer to her.  
"I was out of line." She spoke up suddenly. "I should...should not have said anything. I'm sorry..."  
Sasuke was taken aback by her sudden apology.  
"Miku no." He said, grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her to look him in the eyes. "I'm sorry. I overreacted... Let's just forget about this alright?"  
Miku didn't know what to think or how to feel right now. Sasuke's sudden apology seemed... sincere.  
"Sasuke I..." Her face was suddenly very hot. He still had his hands on her shoulders, and they were standing very closer to one another.  
This was the first time that Sasuke and Miku were this close to one another.  
The warmth radiating from Miku's body made Sasuke realize just how cold he was, and part of him wanted to pull her closer just to keep the chill away.  
But he couldn't do that, they were just friends and that would be weird.

"Guys!" A hushed voice came from the darkness looming ahead of them. "Come here."  
Sasuke quickly released his grip on Miku and began walking in the direction of Tenten's voice.  
But Miku stopped him.  
"Sasuke wait!" She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, preventing him from going any farther.  
"M-Miku what are you doing?" He asked, caught off guard by her sudden embrace.  
"Something's not right.." She whispered, so quiet that even Sasuke barely heard her even though they were so close. "Tenten walked off to the right, over those crates." She said, gesturing down the hall.  
They were standing in a long hallway that branched off to the left and right in a sort of "T" section. The right side had large stacks of crates piled almost to the ceiling, while the left hallway lead to a stairwell that lead down to the what appeared to be a basement.  
"The voice we just heard came from the left. Tenten went to the right."  
Sasuke's blood suddenly went cold. Miku was right, and he wished she wasn't.  
"So what do we do..." He asked, grabbing Miku's arms and crouching down low bringing her with him.  
"I don't know..." She whispered. "I don't know..."  
"Guys! Hey, where are you?" Tenten called once again. "I found something, come quick."  
"Sasuke..."  
Sasuke looked down. His black orbs met with Miku's bright blue ones and he could see the fear and confusion she was trying to hide.  
He did the only thing he could think of and he took her hand in his and brought them both up into a standing position.  
"It's gonna be alright." He said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Just follow my lead."  
Given any normal circumstance, Miku's stomach would be doing backflips over holding hands with Sasuke, but right now she was too terrified to even crack a smile.  
"Tenten where are you?" Sasuke yelled, trying not to let his nervousness show. "It's dark."  
"I'm over here!" Tenten called again, closer this time.  
"Sasuke..." Miku tried to get his attention, but he just squeezed her hand again and kept on inching forward.  
She could see the faint outline of the crates to her right, but there was no sign of Tenten.  
"Where'd she go?" Miku wondered out loud, tightening her grip on Sasuke's hand. For a petite woman she sure had one heck of a grip.  
"I don't know. Should we split up?" He asked looking over his shoulder. He could tell by the look on her face she had no intentions of splitting up.  
"I can't go off by myself are you crazy!" She exclaimed. "No I'm staying with you."  
"Aw... how cute." A deep voice that was definitely not Tenten's called out from the darkness.

* * *

'How did you manage this..' Tenten mentally scolded herself, trying to wiggle herself free from her small, compacted prison.

_Tenten had offered to scout ahead, check out the place to see if she could pick up any leads. Part of her just liked the thrill of sneaking around places that could potentially be filled with dangerous traps and psychotic enemies, while the other half just wanted to leave Sasuke and Miku alone long enough for them to make up and possibly make-out!  
"Let's see let's see what we have here..." She sang to herself, looking at all the crates. Each one was fairly wide but not very tall, and could easily fit Kakashi-sensei if he curled up in the fetal position.  
"I wonder what all these crates are doing here.." She wondered out loud, walking over to the nearest one. It was the only one that was just hanging around by itself, with no others on top of below it. Curiosity got the better of her and as she reached over to remove the lid, the crate suddenly began to shake.  
"Whoah!" Tenten leaped back, startled. "What the blazes?"  
She turned back to the crate, that was still moving around as if something was inside trying to break free. A soft murmuring sound could be heard from inside.  
"Let's crack this baby open!" Tenten grinned, whipping out a kunai and prying open the lid. Her adrenaline was pumping, she was secretly hoping it was some sort of mutated animal or a demon that she could fight or train to be her ally.  
It took a lot of effort but after a few minutes of fussing with the lid she finally managed to pry it open far enough so she could get a good grip on it. With one swift push, a lot of chakra and a few dozen broken blood vessels, she pushed the lid of the crate backwards, opening up a space just large enough to get a good look inside.  
"Stupid lid is heavier than it... "Her voice caught in her throat. "Oh my god..."  
Before she could come to her senses and truly react over what she could see inside the crate, a dark shadow loomed overtop of her and the last thing she saw was a dark figure grinning down on her._

'Curiosity really does kill the cat.' She said, trying to move around. Her mouth was taped shut and her hands were bound behind her back. She assumed she was shoved inside of one of the crates she was snooping around, and judging by the sick smell of unwashed bodies and rotten fruit somebody else had lived in this crate not long ago.  
'Sasuke... Miku.. where are you?' Tenten had tried for the last ten, or twenty minutes to sent a mental message to her team mates, letting her know where she was and to warn them to stay away. Apparently telepathy was a superpower that ninja's don't have.  
'What do I do now? I have to get out of here!' She looked around her small and cramped prison, there were three holes drilled into the top of it for air perhaps, and other than that there really wasn't anything else. The lid was probably sealed as tightly as the last crate was so that wasn't an option, unless Tenten wanted to break her neck trying to ram her way out.  
'Maybe if I...' She twisted her body around so that she was sitting on the bottom of the crate, and her back was resting against one side while her feet were pushed up against the other. A lot of her joints cracked and snapped and it felt like she pulled a muscle in her stomach trying to flip her body around in such a tight space but after a few painful minutes she succeeded.  
'Alright... let's see if I can do this! One.. two.. three...' And she began kicking.

* * *

"Sasuke!" Miku rushed over to help her team mate up, but she was blocked by the man who was attacking them.  
"Little mousie wants to play too?" He smirked stepping closer to Miku. "Too bad for you, my target is the Uchiha. After we're done I could throw you in with the other women..."  
Miku felt her blood turn into ice.  
"... or you could come along nicely and we could arrange for you to be my 'pet'." He flashed her a grin of rotting teeth that made her stomach churn.  
"Leave her alone!" Sasuke yelled, landing a punch on his face and catching him off guard. The man flew backwards into one of the stacks of crates and knocked one off onto the floor cracking it open. It landed next to a single beam of light that shone in through a hole in the ceiling, it's contents spilling out all over the floor.  
At first it looked like a lumpy sack filled with something, possibly vegetables or flour. But when the man stood back up and began making his way back towards Sasuke and Miku, one of his feet bumped into the sack and part of it rolled into the light.  
It wasn't a sack at all.  
A sickly grey coloured human arm fell into the light. It was bone-thin as if whoever it belonged to hadn't been fed in months, and the flesh was decayed indicating the person had died a long time ago.  
A stench so foul rose out of the crate, that Miku and Sasuke had to strain all the muscles in their stomach to avoid vomiting.  
"What..what is this?!" Miku demanded, looking up at the man who was simply standing there laughing at the sight.  
"Oops I spilled our secret." He said, kicking the body back into the darkness as if it were a football rather than a person. "I'm afraid I can't let either of you leave here alive."

* * *

**PREVIEW FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER**

"Don't worry Miku, I won't rest until you and Sasuke are happily in love!" Tenten said, smacking her playfully on the back.

"Sasuke! You can't die on me please wake up!" Miku screamed, tears pouring out uncontrollably. She shook him as violently as she could but his body still lay lifeless in her arms.

"You have a kekkei genkai?!"

'Do I really like Miku?' Sasuke questioned himself. 'Is it possible for me to feel that way?'

"My name is Ayu Yamato.. but I was born Ayu Tatsuki." The girl with the dirty silver hair said, trying her best to smile at Miku. She was weak, and her cheek bones were all sunk in as if she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"I think you're prettier than most girls in Konoha." Sasuke said smiling down at her. "Don't worry about your looks too much."


	9. Misson with Team Gai Final Part

_Ikitaiyo, kimi no tokoro he ima sugu kake dashite ikitaiyo. Makkura de nani mo mienai, kowakutemo, daijoubu.  
I want to live, I want to live and run to your place right now. I can't see anything in the pitch dark, even if it's scary, I'm all right.  
Ai Otsuka - Planetarium_

* * *

"There's nobody here.." Neji said, observing the area with his Byakugan. All he could see were boxes, crates, rusted machinery and decaying burlap sacks. "It's like everybody just up and left overnight. This is strange."  
"Too strange.." Kakashi agreed.  
"This place should be full of life." Gai said landing beside Kakashi. "When we scouted this place last night there were dozens of people in cloaks running around here. Now.. it's lifeless."  
"It's as if they knew we were coming." Neji said, turning to look at the two Jounins standing behind him. "What do you think?"  
"We did run into two of them last night." Gai said, kicking over a barrel full of ashes. "But I didn't think it would cause the entire band of them to flee."  
"Especially when they out-number us by a the dozen." Kakashi said. "This just doesn't add up."  
"Hey guys!" Naruto called, landing beside them. Two dozen Naruto clones blew up behind him. "I can't find Sasuke, Miku and Tenten anywhere!"  
"They are not outside either." Rock Lee said, running up behind Naruto. "It is like they vanished."  
"Hm... I think we better go find them." Neji said, de-activating his Byakugan.  
Everybody else nodded in agreement.  
"I don't think you're going anywhere." A deep voice called out from the darkness. Everybody turned around to see a man with a mask covering his face emerge from the shadows. "I wondered when I'd find you guys sniffing around here." He laughed. "Your friends are tied up at the moment. As for you guys.. well, you won't live long enough to be reunited with them. That is if they're still alive."  
"Everybody watch your back!" Kakashi yelled, pulling up his headband.  
"Show me what you can do Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye!"

* * *

"Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"  
Once again Sasuke's jutsu failed due to darkness and a fast-moving opponent.  
Miku ordered Sasuke not to hit any of the crates incase there's people still alive inside of them, which was easier said than done. Their opponent, with his pitch-black cape, likes to use the shadows as camouflage so he can't be spotted or easily hit. Combine all of this with his super-human speed and well, you're basically screwed.  
"What do we do?" Miku asked, running up beside Sasuke.  
"I'm not sure. This guy is insane, I can't see a thing." He said, squinting into the darkness.  
He suddenly went flying into a pile of crates, while Miku staggered backwards and fell onto her side.  
"Sasuke!" She yelled, but all she received in response was his screams of pain and the wicked laughter of their opponent. "SASUKE!" She yelled.  
Miku was in hysterics now. What could she do? If Sasuke couldn't hold his own against him then what good was she?  
'I'm going to die today I just know it!'  
"Miku!" Sasuke screamed, obviously in pain. "Light... I need light!"  
"Light? But how?!"  
"I don't kn-AHH!" He screamed and Miku heard a loud cracking sound.  
"Sasuke!" She yelled, but received no response. "Sasuke please answer me!"

"Sasuke please answer me!"  
Tenten could hear Miku screaming, and judging by the sounds of her voice something serious was happening.  
She continued kicking the side of the box, but she was stuck against something and couldn't move. Her leg muscles felt like they were going to rip apart any minute now, but she couldn't give up. She had to keep trying.  
'Hold on guys I'm almost there...'

"Miku!" Sasuke yelled again. "Light! I need.. ahh! Light!"  
'Light... right he said he needs a light. But how do I make light?' Miku wondered to herself in a panic. 'What causes light?'  
"Phoenix flower jutsu!" Two dozen fire balls shot out from the darkness and for a split second she could see an arm and what looked like a bale of hay.  
'Fire! That's it!'  
The enemy began to laugh. "Such foolish children you are. You an not defeat what you can not see..."  
"Shut up you bastard! Come out of there and face me like a man!" Sasuke yelled, his voice sounded strained as if he were in a lot of pain.  
'Hold on Sasuke...' Miku silently prayed, performing hand signs as fast as her body would let her.  
"What's it like fighting someone who can see you, but who you can't see?" The enemy asked with yet another laugh.  
"Tidal flame jutsu!" Miku slammed her hands down on the ground releasing chakra that sent a huge wave of fire straight ahead, scorching the enemy and causing Sasuke to jump back to avoid being hit. As it turns out, they weren't fighting on a bale of hay but on large quantities of packing straw and very old sugar packages that had been spilled onto the floor but never cleaned up. These, being as dry as they were, ignited within seconds lighting up the hallway just enough for them to see.

Their opponent was a man about a head taller than Kakashi-sensei dressed in a long black cape with a hood. His face, middle-aged and full of scars as if he were beaten repeatedly in the face with a thorn branch. He had a single name printed on his cape "DOJO". For the sake of this story, their enemy will now be preferred to as "Dojo."  
The dead body on the floor was also exposed with the light. It looked as if it belonged to a young woman around the same age as they were with long blonde hair, rags for clothing and limbs as thin as a pencil. It looked as if she were one very beautiful.  
"What... what did you do to her? W-why was she in this crate?" Miku demanded, trying not to sound as scared as she truly was. Why was she such a coward all the time? Why can't she fight a battle where she doesn't shake like a leaf?  
"What her? It's just a woman that my boss doesn't want or is done with. We stick 'em here until he feels they should be disposed of, re-used or.. well, whatever we feel like." Dojo explained with a nasty smirk.  
"...That poor girl..." Miku felt herself grow teary eyed at the sight of how beat up and deprived she was.  
"Now then, Uchiha. Where were we..."  
Miku stood by one again and watched as Sasuke took Dojo head-on. He was beaten up quite badly, with cuts and bruises on his arms. He had lost his hitai-ate sometime during the fight in the darkness, which Miku could now see gleaming on the ground several feet away, and he looked completely exhausted.  
'What can I do to help?' She asked herself. 'I don't know... I don't have any powerful jutsu's.'  
A crate fell off the pile at the far end of the hall, catching Miku's attention. At first she thought it fell due to the impact of the battle raging in front of her, but then she thought it to be quite strange and went to investigate leaving Sasuke and his enemy alone.

Sasuke watched as Miku took off down the hall.  
'Good...' He thought, spitting out a mouthful of blood. '..Run away Miku, run away and hide. I can't risk... you getting hurt.'  
The whole time they were fighting one another, he couldn't stop thinking of Miku and how he wanted to protect her. Every time he looked over and saw her terrified facial expression it made him want to work harder, to end the fight quicker so he could rush over and tell her everything was alright.  
He usually does take the lead while fighting others so that he can protect his friends and come out as a hero, but this time it felt different.  
It seemed like this time he was fighting for just Miku, not for the rest of his team that's off battling on the other side of the factory.  
Maybe it's just because she's here with him and they aren't.  
"Stop daydreaming Uchiha!" Dojo yelled, coming in for a upper-cut. Thank's to the burning debris at behind Sasuke he could see clearly and manage to successfully dodge it only to be side-kicked afterwards.  
When he landed on the ground, he could have swore he felt his pancreas explode.  
'Come on Uchiha... if you can't beat him.. you can't ever beat... Itachi.' He thought as he forced himself back up into a sitting position.  
Dojo was standing at the opposite end of the hall laughing like a maniac. This guy wasn't sane at all. His laughing was cut short when he noticed something down the hall that appeared to upset him.  
"How in the hell?!" He yelled, taking off passed Sasuke, who turned around to see Miku and Tenten opening up crates and exposing their contents onto the floor.  
Every single crate had a young woman in them, and by the looks of things they were all deceased or close to it at least.  
Now he knew why Dojo was fighting so hard after they had accidentally knocked the crate over and exposed the first dead female. He was covering up the fact that _every_ crate had somebody inside of it.  
Miku had just knocked over a crate that held a very tall female with long silver hair when Dojo screamed "You're mine!"  
Sasuke felt his heart stop in place. How could he forget about Miku! He was so distracted by what he was seeing he failed to register that Dojo was about to kill her.  
Sasuke scrambled up from his spot on the ground and ran as fast we hit legs would take him, pumping every ounce of chakra his body had left to his legs.  
He had to get to Miku before Dojo did.

Miku was completely shocked when she got to the end of the hall to find Tenten, bound and gagged crawling out of the crate that fell.  
After she removed the ropes that bound her limbs and the tape that prevented her from screaming Tenten pulled her into a tight embrace.  
'Wh-wh-wh-what is going on?' Miku thought. It was unlike Tenten to be nice to her let alone give her a hug. Was she possessed?  
"Thank you." Tenten sobbed. "We need to open the rest of these crates."  
Miku stared at her stunned. "W-why?" She asked.  
"Don't you get it?" Tenten said, shakily standing up using a crate for support. "These crates all have people inside of them."

So Tenten and Miku set to work prying, pushing, breaking, and tugging open crate lids and spilling their contents onto the floor as gently as they could. Every single person they dumped out of the crates was already dead.  
"There has to be someone still alive..." Tenten sobbed, dumping out a small child.. "Oh my god.." She fell to her knees in tears.  
Miku had just dumped out a woman with long, very dirty silver hair. She was so tall her legs must have broke being crammed into such a small space for so long.  
"Poor thing..." She felt herself growing teary-eyed too. "Tenten.. what do we do?"  
Tenten didn't reply. She was bawling her eyes out over the corpse of the small child. "Such a waste of precious life... Who would.. who would do this to such a small... innocent..."  
Miku had to turn away. This mission, to save hostages, turned out to be much more emotional than anticipated.  
"...Who..." She heard a voice croak from beside her. She turned to see the woman with long silver hair looking at her, struggling to catch her breath.  
"You're..."  
"You're mine!" A voice shouted. Startled she looked up to see Dojo rushing straight towards her, sword raised ready to strike.  
She didn't have enough time to move out of the way, and if she did he might hit the girl with the silver hair. Doing the only thing she could think of she pulled out a kunai and readied to protect herself.  
"Miku!" She could hear Sasuke yell from somewhere down the hall.  
Dojo was right in front of her now, sword raised ready to pierce her flesh and end her life.  
'I guess this... is it.' She thought clenching her eyes shut.

The sword ripped through the abdomen as if it were paper, sending blood flying everywheres.  
The pain was almost too intense, as if his whole body was on fire.  
He let out a cry and when the sword was removed from his body he felt himself fall backwards onto something soft and warm.  
"SASUKE!" He forced his eyes open to see the Miku's worried gaze. "Sasuke oh my god Sasuke how could you... why did you... Oh Sasuke!"  
He forced a smile onto his lips. She was safe.  
"I... I can't let you... you die.." He wheezed. He felt fluid bubble uncomfortably in his lungs with each word, as if they were filled with liquid.  
The entire body, inside and out hurt as if somebody grabbed his insides with a red-hot pair of vice grips and just started twisting and pulling.  
"Sasuke... You didn't have to. You can't die on me this is all my fault." Miku whispered, tears falling uncontrollably down her face. Even while crying Sasuke thought she looked pretty.  
"...You're safe..." He smiled, feeling more blood build up in his mouth. "...You're safe..." He repeated before his body began it's own coughing fit against Sasuke's will. He felt all the fluid from his lungs rise up and exit his body onto the floor.  
Blood. He was dying wasn't he?  
'I didn't get to... avenge my clan..' He thought, his vision growing blurry. 'But... she's safe... and now maybe I...'  
His body grew cold and then numb and then he fell asleep.

"Sasuke! You can't die on me please wake up!" Miku screamed, tears pouring out uncontrollably. She shook him as violently as she could but his body still lay lifeless in her arms. "Open your eyes please!"  
But she received no response.  
"Sasuke..." She couldn't stop herself from breaking down like this. Her team mate, her first mini-crush, and her best friend just died in her arms protecting her. How could she let this happen? If only she wasn't so weak.  
"Kyumeigan..." a voice whispered beside her. Miku lifted her tear-stained face to see the woman with the silver hair looking at her more intensely. "Kyumeigan... will help... use..." She whispered.  
"But it won't help. He's dead..." She whispered back, unable to find her voice. She could feel his cold and lifeless Sasuke's body was. He wasn't even breathing!  
"...Kyumeigan." She repeated before losing her eyes and falling asleep.  
"But it won't work..." She sobbed.  
"Aw how touching." Dojo sneered up ahead. "It seems I've killed the wrong opponent. Oops clumsy me." He said with a laugh.  
'Kyumeigan.' She thought, wondering if she should listen to the advice of the silver haired woman. How did she even know about her kekkei genkai? Could she be the Tatsuki that Kakashi-sensei told her about?  
"Sasuke... I'm sorry." She whispered to his lifeless corpse. "...So sorry..." She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.  
A sudden warmth spread through her body, and she felt herself suddenly feeling... more energetic? No that wasn't it.. she felt as if her chakra had returned.  
And everything seemed so different.  
Her hands were tingling now, and where her hand was on Sasuke's arm began to glow white. Within seconds the scratch that was one there faded and vanished completely.  
Her kekkei genkai activated.. on it's own?  
Where her other hand lay, across Sasuke's stomach, an even brighter white light formed and the place where the sword ripped through his body began to repair itself. The light coming from both of her hands spread over his entire body, lasting a few seconds before dispersing leaving him looking completely unscathed.  
Sure his wounds were healed, but his heart was still out of commission and he still wasn't..  
Breathing!  
He opened his mouth and took in one large breath of air and began breathing on his own.  
"He's... alive..." Miku sighed in relief, nuzzling his hair.  
"You have a kekkei genkai?!" Tenten yelled from behind her. Miku ignored her. Her best friend was back. Best friend? Yeah sure she can officially say Sasuke was her best friend. A wave of relief washed over her and she felt her heartbeat return to normal. She would have the silver-haired female to thank for this later.

"Some power you got there." Dojo spoke up, catching the attention of the two conscious genin. "It would be a shame to kill you now. Say... how about we spare you, and kill the others? Whatd'ya say?"  
Tenten clenched her fists, ready to hit him where it hurts. "Why you-" But Miku stopped her.  
"Tenten..." She spoke up, gently lowering Sasuke's body to the ground. "Go find anyone who is alive within the crates."  
"But Miku..."  
"This battle is mine." She said, her voice that's usually either cheerful or clueless now filled with hatred and venom.  
Tenten reluctantly nodded and scampered over to the crates to see if there was life left in them.  
Miku didn't know why she was suddenly so angry, and wanted nothing more than to see Dojo lifeless on the ground just as Sasuke was just moments ago, but she knew one thing.  
He had crossed the line, and she was no longer going to sit back and weep about it.  
"Aww did I anger you? Are you going to accept my proposal or should I run you through with my sword as well?"  
Miku didn't reply, she just vanished.  
"Hey where'd you-" And landed a blow to his back.  
She reappeared in front of him just in time to knee him in the face sending him staggering backwards. Usually she wouldn't be able to pull off a technique like that but he was caught off guard and that made it the perfect time for her to strike.  
"You little bitch!" He cursed, holding his now bloody and possibly broken nose.  
Miku was terrified, worried, paranoid, and she doubted she could hold her own against him for very long. But something in her sparked when she saw Sasuke laying limp and lifeless in her arms, and felt as though she had to at least try.  
After all he almost killed Sasuke.  
Scratch that, he _**did**_ kill Sasuke.

Dojo ran full speed at Miku, a kunai hidden in his sleeve. Miku wasn't aware there was a kunai there, and when she went to uppercut him he ducked and went in for the kill.  
Thankfully she had quick reflexes and twisted her body out of the way so it just grazed her side. Even though it was a small cut, she had never truly been injured in battle before and the pain was almost unbearable but she held her own for Tenten and for Sasuke's sake.  
"Stubborn little-"  
Miku lifted her leg straight up and brought her heel smashing down on his head, knocking him into a daze. While he fell towards the ground she used his back as a launch pad to gain some air.  
"Water Style! Ice Bullet Jutsu!"  
She felt the temperature in her mouth drop below the freezing point as she shot out dozens of frozen bullets towards Dojo. Even in his dazed state he managed to dodge most of them, but she did hit him a few times in the back of the leg, the shoulder and she ripped his hood a little bit. When she landed on the ground, she kept running straight for him her fists raised ready to strike. He realized what she was doing and followed suit.  
Dojo successfully landed a blow on Miku's face, while she scratched the side of his neck breaking through the skin and drawing blood. He grabbed his neck with one hand and with the free one landed a few more punches in her stomach.  
"Why won't you die?!" He screamed, landing a kick to her stomach sending her flying into a nearby crate. Despite her bodies painful protests she pulled herself up into a kneeling position, spat some blood onto the floor and got back up to her feet.  
"You... you... thanks to you I almost lost... someone very precious to me..." She breathed, swaying back and forth. "I will not let you get away..."  
The whole room was spinning but she couldn't let that stop her. She was the liability on this team, the weakest link. Maybe if she managed to defeat Dojo, or at least hold her own against him until Kakashi-sensei showed up, she would become a stronger ninja.  
Or at least be motivated to do better.

Tenten watched in horror, amazed and completely astonished as Miku and Dojo fought. She was doing surprisingly well, even though she was beat up and exhausted.  
"Miku..." Tenten watched in horror as Miku got shoulder checked into a wall. "I can't watch anymore!"  
Miku got back up to her feet only to see Dojo closing in for another attack. She braced herself, waiting for the impact that would possibly end her life or break her.  
A sickening cry could be heard throughout the factory.  
When Miku opened her eyes, she had expected her to be dead. But when she did she saw Dojo standing in a pool of his own blood, various weapons sticking out of his flesh. He looked like he was in a lot of pain.  
"My eye! My eye! You bitch, you bitch!" He was screaming, clutching his right eye. Miku gasped in horror as she saw the end of a kunai protruding between his fingers.  
Tenten stood between Dojo and Miku, one of her signature scrolls lay blank and used on the floor by her feet.  
"I'm not gonna let you have all the fun." She smirked, looking over her shoulder at Miku.  
"Tenten..." Miku felt tears well up in her eyes. Tenten came to the rescue! If she hadn't intervened when she did, Miku would be...  
"You'll pay for this... you'll pay for this I swear!" Dojo was screaming, blindly swinging his free arm around trying to hit one of them. When he was inches away from Tenten, a flash of light blinded the girl and another sickening cry was heard.  
"What's going on?!" Miku yelled, reaching out to try and grasp Tenten.  
"Ahh I don't know!" She replied, also reaching out for Miku.  
"Looks like we got here in the knick of time." A familiar voice said.

When Miku's vision returned, she could see Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, Neji, Rock Lee and Naruto standing between the girls and Dojo.  
Dojo's severed left arm lay by their feet.  
"The hell with you Konoha genin!" He screamed, clutching the stub where his arm once was. "What did you do with Takamine?!"  
"Oh you mean the dude in the mask?" Naruto asked. "We totally nailed him! He didn't stand a chance!"  
"Miku, Tenten. I want you to take Sasuke and leave. We'll be right with you after we take care of him." Gai-sensei said, striking a pose.  
"These crates! They're full of people. Some might still be alive..." Tenten cried out.  
Rock Lee flashed a shiney smile. "Do not fear Tenten, for I the handsome devil of the Leaf Village will search these crates and bring all survivors to safety!"  
Miku limped over to Sasuke's lifeless body and began pulling him onto her shoulders to try and carry him out. He was heavy, but light enough so that Miku could piggy-back him outside.  
"What about her!" She called out to Tenten, gesturing to the silver haired female that helped them out earlier. "We can't leave her..."  
"Don't worry." Tenten smiled. "I'll get her out of here."

* * *

When the girls successfully brought Sasuke and the silver-haired female outside, Miku collapsed from exhaustion.  
"She tired herself out..." Tenten sighed, setting down the silver-haired female.  
A groan was heard from her feet and when she looked down she could see Sasuke was sitting up, holding his stomach.  
"Oh my god what happened? Why does it feel like I just swallowed a box of nails..." He spoke, his voice was scratchy and worn out.  
Tenten shook her head. "You don't remember anything do you?"  
Sasuke blinked. He wasn't sure what she was talking about. And then it all came back to him.  
Dojo, the crates, Miku, and then... the sword.  
"Miku!" He crawled over to where she lay sleeping. "Is she..."  
"Dead? No. You died though." Tenten said, sitting down beside the both of them. Sasuke looked up at her, he had no idea what she was talking about.  
"I..died?" He repeated, about to call her crazy.  
She nodded. "Miku brought you back.. using her kekkei genkai."  
He looked down at the Miku's sleeping form. Her hair was a weird purple colour, stained with blood her her kimono was covered in blood as well. The left side of her face was swollen as if she swallowed a hoard of bees, and she had cuts and bruises all over her body.  
"She fought with him." Tenten explained, throwing herself back on the grass. "She fought him with everything she had, managed to get in a few good blows too. She almost died, but I stepped in and stopped him. After that Kakashi and the others appeared and told us to grab you and escape."  
Sasuke reached out and moved a piece of hair out of her face, it was stuck to her cheek with blood and left a rust coloured streak on her face.  
"It's not her blood she's covered in don't worry. It's mostly yours." Tenten said with a laugh. "You like her don't you?"  
He whipped his head around and stared at her with wide eyes. "I what?"  
She thought his reaction was funny, so she decided to play it a little. "You. Like. Miku. I can tell, the way you stared at her earlier before you, you know, died."  
He looked down at Miku's sleeping form again, pondering what Tenten had just told him. He could remember his thoughts before everything went black, and he remembered how relieved he was to know that Miku was okay.  
'Do I really like Miku?' Sasuke questioned himself. 'Is it possible for me to feel that way?'  
"Don't worry I won't tell her." Tenten said, rolling over. "I'm not that kind of girl."  
He got up to his feet, ready to defend his honour and deny feeling that way but Tenten was sleeping soundly on the ground beside Miku.  
'Do I like Miku?'

* * *

When Miku finally came to, she could feel herself moving.  
'Where... am I going?' She thought, not wanting to move. She was warm, and comfy, and feeling strangely... safe.  
Every muscle in her body felt like it was on fire, but she was exhausted enough to sleep through the pain.  
'Am I being... carried?' She asked herself, prying her eyes open. Her vision was blurry at first, and all she could see was a variety of green and brown blurs, but once her eyes came into focus she could see black hair, and blue clothing.  
"Sasuke?!" She screamed startled, almost causing Sasuke to lose his grip. Luckily for her he has great reflexes and managed to catch her before she hit the ground, hoisted her back up and continued walking.  
"Hey." He said, not looking down at her. It took her a few minutes to realise that he was carrying her and they were all walking.  
"Where am I? Where is everyone? Are you okay? You shouldn't be carrying me I can walk I'm fine really." She said super fast, trying to wiggle out of his arms. He kept a death grip on her and refused to let her go.  
"What are you talking about, you're in worse shape than me." He commented, smiling down at her. She felt her face grow hot, and then felt a sharp pain in her cheek.  
She could feel how swollen it was without having to touch it. That's when she noticed her hair, drenched in blood and all clumped together.  
"Oh my god I look terrible!" She shrieked, burying her face in his shoulder. "Don't look at me."  
He laughed at her reaction, sending vibrations through her face.  
"You look fine."  
"I do not I must look a fright!" She said, peeling dried and bloody hair off her face. "I mean.. I look worse than I usually do."  
"I think you're prettier than most girls in Konoha." Sasuke said smiling down at her. "Don't worry about your looks too much."  
Her face grew hot once again and even though it seemed to irritate her swollen cheek, she buried her face in his shoulder to hide the blush.  
'You set yourself up for that one didn't you...' She thought, trying her hardest not to smile.  
Her cheek muscles won the fight.

They had walked to a nearby lake, and let the girls clean themselves off first. The woman with the silver hair woke up and Miku helped her into the lake to get washed.  
Her legs had no power at all, as a result of being crammed into the crate for so long, so she practically had to carry her there.  
"What's your name?" She asked Miku when she set her down.  
"Miku Tatsuki." She replied. "And you?"  
"My name is Ayu Yamato.. but I was born Ayu Tatsuki." The girl with the dirty silver hair said, trying her best to smile at Miku. She was weak, and her cheek bones were all sunk in as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. "So that means we're related."  
Miku nodded. "Cousins I think."  
She helped Ayu rinse the dirt out of her hair, and she tried her best to help Miku get the blood out of hers but she was too weak and ended up sitting off to the side while Miku washed her own hair. Afterwards Miku lent her some spare clothes she brought while she put on a pair of clothes that Sasuke forcefully lent her.  
Her kimono was bloody and torn and wasn't in proper wearing condition, according to His Highness himself.  
Sasuke was in a muscle shirt and boxers when they got back to camp and even though she wanted to avoid him, Tenten literally forced Miku to sit beside him. Before she let her go however, she pulled her off to the side.  
"You like him don't you!" She whispered, causing Miku's face to heat up.  
"I do-do-don't know what you mean, I like who?" She stuttered, trying to act dumb. Judging by the wide grin that spread across Tenten's face she knew that her cover was blown.  
"Don't worry Miku, I won't rest until you and Sasuke are happily in love!" Tenten said, smacking her playfully on the back. Before Miku could reply she was pushed towards him and forced to sit down causing some weird and confused glances by the people around them.  
She pulled her knees up to her chest, admiring the scent of Sasuke's clothes while trying not to be too obvious.  
Ayu was given some instant ramen and fruit to eat and the poor thing almost ate herself to death. As soon as she was finished she went right to sleep.

"So she was the only survivor..." Neji spoke up, looking down at her. Ayu had practically passed out and was unwillingly using Neji's lap as a pillow, but he didn't seem to mind.  
"It's amazing she survived this long." Kakashi said sadly. "We've gathered up all the other bodies and laid them out inside the building. We're going to have to contact the villages to come and collect them to give them all a proper identification and burial.  
A heavy sadness washed overtop of everybody. So many lives suffered, and so many lost.  
"This mission..." Gai said sadly, throwing some more wood into the fire. "Is the worst one I've ever been on."  
Nobody said anything afterwards, but all sat around listening to the sound of the crackling fire.


	10. Adventures with Sasuke and Naruto

_Demo, naze darou takusan no hito ni kakoma re te iru toki hodo, kono sekaijuu de hitori kiri na ki ga shite._  
_But why, even though I was surrounded by so many people, I felt like as if I was the loneliest person on Earth.  
UVERworld - Koishikute  
_

* * *

The majority of the bodies of those who parished at the sugar factory were identified and collected within a few days. A large quantity of them were so horribly decayed that it was nearly impossible for anyone to identify them, so each one was buried with a number. They were all buried and the sugar factory was burned to the ground. A monument to the fallen victims was erected where the factory once stood.

Ayu was dropped off to her adopted parents only to return to Konoha a few weeks later seeking Miku. Seeing as they were the only known living Tatsuki's, Ayu decided it was best to stick together and get to know one another.  
Ayu did promise to write letters every week and visit her parents from time to time.

"It's better this way." Ayu reassured Miku who felt bad about tearing her away from her family so suddenly even though it was Ayu's idea.  
It's been about a month since the whole thing happened.  
The Hokage issued a search warrant for the so-called "Leader" and the rest of his followers to prevent them from harming any more innocent people. It only took a week for the ANBU to track down the rest of the gang members, however the Leader was nowheres to be found.

Ayu was looking a lot better as well. The colour returned to her face and she gained enough weight to bring her back up to a healthy size.  
She had the appetite of ten men, and Miku wasn't sure if it was a result of being starved for so long or if she had always eaten so much.

"You can have this room." Miku told Ayu. It was originally Miku's room, and before that it was the large room that housed all the maids. Miku figured it was best to give Ayu the large room seeing as she was the oldest.  
But Ayu declined. "It was your room first." She had said. "You keep it I can take another room."  
"But you're the oldest and... I was always taught that... the oldest um... get's the bigger room." Miku had tried arguing back with her but she wasn't one to enjoy arguing with people.  
Ayu laughed. "Then we'll share this room together."  
Miku's bed was large enough to fit the both of them and maybe two other people if they wanted to, so the both of them could easily have their own side of the bed and never bother the other one. However the girls both chose to sleep side-by-side in the very center of the bed.  
I guess it was the reassurance of having someone else there with you.

* * *

Sasuke had felt strange ever since the incident at the sugar factory.  
Every time he saw Miku he felt happy, scared, sad, nervous and just plain weird. Whenever she went over to talk to him he couldn't help but smile as they chatted among themselves. Whenever she walked off to go talk to someone else or when Naruto butted in and stole her attention he couldn't help but feel angry, and always followed after her.  
And he had no idea why.

'You're just friends that's all, Uchiha.' He had told himself when he started believing that what Tenten had said about him liking her was true. 'Don't let that annoying woman's words get to you.'  
"Hey Sasuke." That all too-familiar voice chirped. "What... are you doing?"  
He looked over at Miku who was staring at him with a _"The hell is wrong with you?"_ kind of look.  
"I don't know what you're talking about." He told her, wondering why she was staring at him like that. He turned around to continue with his shuriken practice but only then did he realize what she was talking about.  
It started out as simple Shuriken throwing-practice, however sometime during practice his mind began to wander and he began having thoughts about Miku, what Tenten said, Itachi and what happened at the Sugar Factory, and he ended up completely destroying the target, the surrounding trees and he then went over and began breaking off all the tree branches he could reach. Now, he stood in front of two dozen trees with about 5 feet of branchlessness.  
"..I was practicing." He blurted out the first excuse he could think of.  
Miku raised an eyebrow. "Practicing what? How to break the arms off of people?" She laughed.  
"That's exactly what I was doing." He said very manly, trying to get her to change the topic. She gave him another strange look before turning around and skipping over to Kakashi-sensei who was sitting on a stump also staring at Sasuke like he was crazy.  
'Watch yourself Uchiha.' He sighed, heading over to dislodge his Shuriken from the targets. 'You can't have Konoha thinking you're crazy.'

The following day Kakashi-sensei spontaneously came down with the flu and gave everyone the day off.  
Sasuke had originally planned on spending the day training, until he realized he had no food and headed out to the grocery store. On the way there he saw Miku sitting at the BBQ restaurant that Chouji's family owned. An idea came to him.  
"I am hungry..." He told himself. "And It's rude of me to leave a woman, especially my friend, sitting alone." Making up any excuse he could think of to go spend some one on one time with her. "But what if people start to think I like her?"  
Before he could make up his mind whether he should go over, he noticed that she wasn't alone.  
She had Naruto with her.  
"What are they doing together?!" He growled through clenched teeth. A few people passing by were staring at him suspiciously as he quickly ducked behind a nearby Cafe sign, and then made his way over to one of the large signs outside the BBQ restaurant.

"Poor Kakashi-sensei. I wonder how he got sick.." He heard Miku say. "I hope he gets better soon."  
"Yeah me too. I'm tired of sitting around doing nothing I want a real ninja mission!" Naruto yelled, attracting the attention of, well, everyone in the restaurant.  
'That idiot. How can she stand being around him? He's so... annoying.' He thought. 'Are they on a date?'  
"So why'dyou decide to come hang out with me anyway?" Naruto asked Miku. "I mean, I planned on eating Ramen all day and maybe popping over to see Kiba or something. I assumed you'd be with His Royal Jackass as usual."  
Miku laughed. "You mean Sasuke? Yeah I thought about going over to his house but.. I didn't wanna bother him. I think I spend too much time with him.. And lately every time I'm around he gets all.. weird and then he does something weird. He probably doesn't wanna be around me so much so I decided to come see you."  
Sasuke felt his heart skip a beat. 'She wanted to come see me? Then she changed her mind? To hang out with him?!'  
He watched them sit together and talk for a few minutes before the waiter came alone and handed them their menu's.  
'Should I go over?' He asked himself. 'She originally wanted to be with me right? So.. if I go over, I'm not doing anything wrong.'  
There was an empty seat next to Miku, and he couldn't take his eyes off it.

"Have you ever tried roasted squid?" Miku asked Naruto. He gave her a look as if she were crazy.  
"Of course I have! Who hasn't?" He yelled, banging his hands on the table startling the waitress walking by and upsetting the salt and pepper.  
She felt embarrassed all of a sudden and hid her face in her menu. She looked over at the sign outside the restaurant, where Sasuke had been hiding for the past 15 minutes but he was gone.  
'Where did he go to?' She wondered, turning back to her menu. 'Must have grown tired of playing spy-ninja and walked off to brood somewhere.'  
The chair beside her moved and she turned to see that a wild Sasuke had appeared.  
"Sasuke! Hey what do you want?" Naruto yelled at him across the table. "Who invited you?!"  
Sasuke shot him a look. "I was hungry and came here to eat. Saw you two, came over and sat down." He stated bluntly.  
Miku laughed. "Don't fight you two we're in a public restaurant. Here, you can share my menu."  
Miku had decided on roasted squid, and a side of miso soup while Sasuke ordered roasted squid, tomato soup and about two dozen onigiri. Naruto ordered half the menu plus a 24-piece sushi combo platter for everyone to split.  
"I'm definitely not gonna be able to eat all of this..." Miku said, looking wide-eyed at all the food that was brought to them. She had never eaten here before so of course she had no idea how big the portions were.  
Naruto laughed. "I don't know about you but I sure will!" and he instantly began shoveling the food into his mouth.  
"I don't understand how he does it..." Miku sighed, looking down at her squid. It looked very tasty, but just the very idea of eating squid made her stomach crawl. She had seen one alive, up close before and that's a story she doesn't want to repeat.  
"You don't like squid?" Sasuke asked from beside her.  
Miku shook her head. "I've never tried it before, but I don't know if I'll like it so..." She began poking at it with her chopsticks once more.

He thought she was the cutest thing since kittens.  
She sat beside him with her long, messy blue hair tied up in a bun and held in place by a clip while her bangs and stray curls framed her face. She wore a long-sleeved red dress with a V-neck that exposed her collar bones, and stopped just above her knees. Underneath she had black tights and black boots on.  
The way she was poking at her squid with her chopsticks like it could come to life and bite her any second well, it made him smile.  
And he couldn't figure out why.  
"It's not really that bad." He had told her, taking a bite of his own squid. She looked up at him with those bright blue eyes with confusion.  
"I guess it won't hurt to.. try it.." She said, ripping off a piece and quickly popping it into her mouth. After chewing for a few seconds she swallowed it and made a face.  
"Hot!" She exclaimed, reaching across the table and downing her glass of water. "Delicious.. but why is it so spicy?" She asked, dabbing her mouth with a napkin.  
"Yours is spicy? That's strange because mine isn't.." Sasuke had told her.  
"Yah! Mine ishnt spashy eider!" Naruto yelled from the other side of the table with a mouth full of ramen, rice and sushi.  
"Here take mine." Sasuke suggested, handing her his plate and taking hers from her. She had taken a bigger piece off of hers but he didn't mind.  
"Are you sure... I mean, I can handle it I guess.." Miku asked, hesitantly accepting the plate.  
He chuckled. "I like spicy things. I don't mind."  
For the rest of the meal they both had to avoid eye contact with Naruto because the sight of him eating the way he was, was killing their appetites.

Naruto had ended up eating so much he made himself sick, while Sasuke ate almost as much as him but held back his nausea to avoid looking uncool.  
Miku ate her squid, half her bowl of miso soup and 3 or 4 rice balls that Sasuke had given her. She wasn't a fan of raw-fish so she didn't have any sushi. That little amount alone was enough to make her full.  
They ended up with a ton of left overs, even after Sasuke and Naruto had devoured most of it, so she wrapped them up and brought them home to Ayu who was in the process of trying to figure out how to cook rice.  
"I never had to cook it myself.." She explained when she saw two confused faces and the Naruto's backside as he threw up in their sink.  
"I'm not very good either..." Miku confessed, inching away from the blonde who was violently being sick beside her,  
Sasuke showed both girls how to cook rice while Naruto cleaned out his mess in the sink. He started to make a fuss about how bad it smelled and Sasuke almost beat him to death for being so rude but after the girls broke the fight they were ordered to stay away from one another.

Miku couldn't help but feel jealous while watching her cousin and her crush so close to one another.  
Sasuke was standing directly behind her, instructing her on how to cook rice so it didn't end up too soupy or too dry.  
"Did I add enough rice?" She asked, looking over her shoulder with a look of panic on her face. "I added too much didn't I..."  
Sasuke let out a small chuckle "No you didn't add enough. Here let me..."  
'I also said I was no good at cooking rice...' Miku thought to herself. 'Why isn't he helping me?'  
The answer was obvious. She wasn't the one trying to cook rice, Ayu was.  
'It's only rice, it's not like they're making out.'  
"Oh thank you Sasuke!" Ayu cried out, pulling him into a tight embrace. Sasuke looked very uncomfortable, and he looked over at Miku with a look of pure terror.  
"You're welcome." He said nervously, patting her on the back with one hand.  
Miku had to turn her head to avoid strangling her cousin.

* * *

"It's so nice out." Miku said, stretching her arms into the air. "I miss it when the weather's like this."  
"Same here." Naruto said, climbing a huge boulder nearby. "Hey look I'm the king!" He yelled, and began doing some sort of tribal dance on top of the boulder he had just conquered.  
"He' so lively." Miku laughed.  
Sasuke frowned. "More like annoying..."  
"Hey what'd you say?!" Naruto yelled. "I'd like to see you climb an awesome boulder like this one!"  
Sasuke felt his eye twitch. 'Is he seriously challenging me to climb rocks..?'  
"Unless you're too scared!"  
"That's it you're dead!" And the young Uchiha was off in search of a larger rock to climb leaving Miku standing there questioning her teammates sanity.  
When she had finally found her team mates, they were almost two miles away on top of some cliffs of equal height.  
"Mine's taller!" Naruto yelled, stomping his feet. "Admit it you lost!"  
"As if loser mine's taller by a whole centimeter!" Sasuke retorted, keeping his cool. Miku stood at the base of the cliff looking upwards. She couldn't see either of them, but she sure as hell could hear them.  
"You guys are idiots! Come down here now!" She yelled up, but she had no idea if her words had reached them or not.  
Sasuke heard her yelling, but he couldn't make out what she was saying. He walked over to the edge of the cliff he was standing on and looked down, barely making out the faint blue dot that would be Miku.  
"What did she say?" He asked himself, ignoring the blonde throwing a tantrum behind him  
"YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE I WON!" He yelled, throwing a rock as Sasuke. The rock hit him on the back, catching him off guard and causing him to lose his balance and tumble over the edge of the cliff.  
Naruto realized what was going on and rushed over to grab him but was seconds too late, missing Sasuke completely and slipping over the edge himself.  
Miku watched in horror as both her team mates began plummeting towards the ground.

* * *

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes... I'm fine."  
Miku looked at Sasuke questionably. He had managed to catch himself, and Naruto, before they fell to their death but in the process he ended up with a large gash down his left leg while Naruto had a cut on his head, a swollen wrist and various cuts and scratches all over. Sasuke had "accidentally" let Naruto roll down the cliff a couple dozen times before saving him.  
"If you say so..."  
"I did say so!" He said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Why do you got to keep pestering me?"  
"Because you're bleeding to death." Miku stated bluntly, watching the blood stream down his leg at amazing speeds.  
"I'm starving..." Naruto walked up beside them holding his stomach. "I ate so good at the restaurant... then it all game back up. I need more food."  
Miku couldn't help but laugh, this was her first time actually hanging out with Naruto. He was much more entertaining outside of their usual shinobi-routines.  
Sasuke couldn't stand him, he usually does succeed in irritating the living hell out of him but today he was driving Sasuke absolutely crazy! What's worse is that Miku finds him funny. She's been giggling at him all day, just now she's laughing at how much of a.. a dobe he was being!  
"Too bad for you Naruto." Sasuke snapped. "Looks like you're gonna have to starve."  
"Sasuke you jackass come over here and say that to my face!"  
"I don't have to I'm standing beside you, dolt!"  
"How about I beat some sense into you?!"  
"You couldn't beat your way out of a wet paper bag!"  
"Oh yeah? Find one big enough and I'll beat my way out of it ten times!"  
"That doesn't even make any sense! Come back with some better insults you loser."  
"Me?! All you know how to say is "loser"! You loser!"  
"Wow we sure have walked a long time, how about we sit down my feet hurt, water anyone? I have chips in my purse Naruto..."  
Miku tried her hardest to intervene and stop Shinobi War 4 from breaking out but she wasn't sure either of them heard a word she was saying.  
Sasuke had heard her say she had chips in her purse while Naruto heard her say that her feet hurt.  
She pulled the chips out of her purse and was prepared to hand them to Naruto when all hell broke loose once more.  
"Hey Miku, how about I carry you for a bit so you can rest your feet?" Naruto suggested, giving both her and Sasuke a sly grin. Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing, Naruto wanted to carry Miku? Was he trying to prove that he was a better person, a better friend than he was? Or maybe he was trying to make her like him more? Whatever the case, the young Uchiha wasn't about let this one slide.  
"No, allow me to carry you Miku. This loser couldn't handle it."  
"Are you calling her fat?"  
"No I'm calling you weak there's a difference."  
"Oh yeah why don't you come say that to my face?"  
"Again, I'm standing right in front of you!"  
"Oh boy..." Miku took a step backwards to avoid being his in the crossfire between the two hot-headed teenage boys. Just when she thought they were about to start fist-fighting one another, Sasuke reached over and snatched the bag of chips out of her hand.  
"Think fast!" He yelled tossing them over to Naruto. His face lit up and he dove after the chips, missing by a few inches, recovering and then scrambling after them.  
"Wow I guess that's one way to break up a f-oah my goodness!" She felt herself being lifted up into the air. "S-S-Sasuke what..what are you doing?"

* * *

"You don't have to carry me anymore..." Miku had told Sasuke after 30 minutes of walking. "I mean... my legs are fine now..."  
He ignored her. Again.  
She has been trying to convince Sasuke to let her down since he picked her up but he won't listen to a word she says! This was the second time that he had to carry her somewheres and she had to admit, she felt really warm being so close to him.  
"Hey guys I can see my house from here!" A voice yelled from above them. Naruto had made it his goal to climb every single tall tree that he can find, and this one was the tallest yet. "I'm not kidding either!"  
"Naruto come down you're going to hurt yourself again!" Miku called, but all she recieved in response was a laugh and then she watched as he began swinging from tree to tree on low-hanging branches.  
"That idiot is going to end up killing himself one of these days..."

Naruto was having an awesome time hanging out with His Royal Jackass and Miku.  
He was purposefully acting like an idiot just to piss him off, and in the process of irritating the living hell out of him he caught on to something.  
Something that Sasuke is trying to keep a secret.  
A secret about Sasuke that Sasuke himself doesn't even know.  
"Sasuke likes Miku, Sasuke likes Miku. He just won't admit it, he just won't admit it." He was singing to himself, leaping from branch to branch. "Hehehe now I get to mess with him a bit."  
He slid down a branchless tree and landed beside Sasuke who was still carrying Miku.  
"Hey guys I see a lake not far from here, who wants to go swimming?" He asked, a large grin spread aross his face.  
He was definitely up to something.

The three of them made their way towards the lake that Naruto was talking about. It was large enough to be a small ocean.  
"It's nice out but It's still too cold to go swimming.." Miku said, taking off her boots and pulling up her leggings. "I guess I can walk in the water though.'  
She had always loved water, ever since she was a little girl. Her favourite types of jutsu's were water jutsu's, however she wasn't very good at them.  
Somehow she can use her chakra to manipulate fire, and wind with no problem and even earth if she focuses enough. However whenever she tried to channel her chakra through the water to use it to her advantage, it refuses to obey her.

"Maybe I'm forever cursed to be a wind and fire user..." she sighed reaching down into the icy-cold water for a shiny rock she spotted. "Ooh pretty.."

"What are you a bird now?"

She didn't even have to turn around to know who she was speaking with. The smell of apples and the aura of cool-ness gave it away.

"No I just like shiny rocks." She said, spinning around and showing him. "See?"

He took the rock from her small hands and studied it. It was about the size of a baseball and very shiny, almost like it were covered in tin-foil. It was a strange rock, but he had to seem unexcited.

"It's just a rock." He stated, tossing it behind him. Miku puffed her cheeks out like a blowfish, something she was in the habit of doing when she became frustrated. He had to force back the smile that was threatening to creep its way acrossed his face. She was adorable.

"Hey guys there's fish in this lake!" An overly excited blonde yelled from further down. "I almost caught one but damn they're fast!"

They watched as Naruto got worked up over something in the water. He yelled a lot of gibberish before splashing around, grabbing at something.

"Man what's he going on about?" Sasuke scowled. "Honestly he can't sit still for five minutes.."

Miku elbowed him in the ribs. "Oh lighten up Uchiha." She laughed. "And would it kill you to have some fun?"

He watched as she ran through the water to join their strange blonde friend in his hunt for fish. On the way over she tripped and stumbled a little, and then caught herself before she face-planted the water. She looked behind her to see if Sasuke had seen, and after realizing both her team mates noticed her act of clumsiness she smoothed out her dress, even though there wasn't a single wrinkle to be seen, and turned her head as if nothing happened.

"I need to... learn how to have fun?" He scoffed. He watched her point at something in the water before Naruto dove head first at whatever Miku was pointing at. "Who needs fun."

Naruto came bursting out of the water with a fish in his mouth.

"Shee ook at I gat!" He grinned. "Fhish!"

"Spit it out spit it out!" Miku laughed smacking him on the head. The two of them continued chasing fish together for what seemed like forever. Sasuke sat on the edge of the lake and glared at them, then the ground at his feet, a toad that hopped on the shores beside him, Naruto, the rock he sat beside and then finally Miku. When he focused his signature glare at her however, she looked in his direction and flashed him a smile.

She was standing just a few feet away from him, knee-deep in the water. She had lost her clip sometime during a wrestling match that her and Naruto waged against one another. Her blue mess of hair fell along her shoulders and back in various curls and waves. The sun was beginning to set behind her casting a golden glow along the surface of the lake while bathing Miku in a warm glow. When her face lit up in a smile well, Sasuke's breath caught in his throat.

'How can someone so plain... so ordinary, and so... meek be so beautiful?' He asked himself.

Just a few months ago when he looked at the youngest surviving Tatsuki he simply saw a short, 12 year old kunoichi with a very blue almost-afro and who seemed to want nothing more than to shrink into the background and watch the world go by.

But now.. Sasuke sees her as a very strong, kind and warm-hearted person who's no longer afraid to laugh, get angry or have fun. When he looks at her, she appears beautiful, even her hair, that looks as if it might bite the arm off a person, is another feature to Miku Tatsuki that makes her just so darn attractive.

"What's wrong with me?" He muttered, unable to take his eyes off of her. "What am I going through?"

Puberty? It has to be puberty. What else could it possibly be?

She began walking over to him. "H-hey wh-wh-what's wrong?" She stammered. Her lips were the same colour as her hair was, and she was shaking uncontrollably. "Kinda cold... can..can we l-leave?" She laughed, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Hey I'm not cold! But I am hungry. Yeah yeah let's leave!" Naruto yelled, running out of the water. "Race you both back to town!" He said taking off through the forest leaving them behind, questioning his sanity.

* * *

"Ah.. so cold. Why did..did I.. I get wet?"

Sasuke shook his head. He was only wearing a T-shirt today or else he would offer her, scratch that he would force her to wear his sweater.

'The one day you forget a sweater and this happens. Way to go Uchiha..' He mentally scolded himself.

"I won-wonder how.. Ka-ka-kashi-sensei got...got sick.." she wondered. "He was fine..yesterday."

He nodded. "I was wondering the same thing. It was probably just some excuse to have a day off. Lazy Jounin.."

Miku didn't say anything after that. Her lips were frozen and so was she. Her and Sasuke were walking very close to one another and she could feel the warmth from his body radiating off of him as if he were currently on fire. She wanted nothing more than to latch onto him like a leech, or maybe climb inside his clothing with him but.. that would be creepy on many levels.

Before she knew it, they had arrived at Sasuke's apartment complex.

"Okay.. I-I'll see you... to-tomorrow." Miku spat out, unfolding her arms a little to give a small wave. Without thinking however, she reached out and pulled Sasuke into a very tight and a very warm embrace. As soon as her arms snaked around his back she started to feel a lot more warm. It really did feel like he was on fire, not that she was complaining or anything.

Sasuke was caught off guard when Miku had hugged him. At first he didn't know what to do, should he push her away? Hug her back? Stand there like a tree? After a few seconds he slowly melted into the embrace. It wasn't like the hug that Ayu had given him earlier and it definitely wasn't like the hug that Sakura forced on him on his birthday last year. This one was different. He had no idea why, but it was.

'Hugging her is nice.' He thought as he returned the hug and rested his chin on her shoulder. 'I mean.. It's alright I guess. Wow she's cold, It feels as if I'm holding onto a block of ice.'

"Hey come inside for a second." He blurted out.

* * *

When Miku arrived home, she was still cold but happy. Not only did she hug Sasuke but he hugged her back! And he invited her inside. But not to cuddle or anything fun like that..

"His clothes.. are so big." She said, holding up her arms. She had lost her hands in the sweater he gave her, but she was happily wore it anyways. She tossed the bag containing her wet clothes into the laundry room for tomorrow and climbed into bed, still in Sasuke's shorts and shirt.

"Smells like him..." she mumbled.

"How was your date?" A sleepy voice whispered from beside her. "I won't remember a thing you tell me by morning but... tell me, did you kiss him?"

"Ayu!

Meanwhile back at Sasuke's apartment he was having a serious debate with himself.

"Do I like Miku?" He asked his ceiling. "I mean.. Ten..whatever her name is said that I liked her, but then again what does she know about me?" He rolled over onto his side, facing a photo of him and his brother he kept on his bedside table.

"Ever since she accused me of.. liking Miku, I can't seem to stop.. thinking weird things about her." The image of himself as a 6 year old academy student on the back of his then12 year old brother, his idol, his inspiration and the reason why he hates life were both staring at him, or rather his mother who was taking the photo at the time. Sasuke closed his eyes to force back the tears that were trying to break free.

He reached over and flicked off the lamp, turning his back to the photo on his table.

"Is it okay... for me to like someone? Can I do that?"

* * *

*Dear readers: Sorry for the late update. Most of the keys on my laptop broke so I couldn't write anymore chapters -.- The reason why the spacing goes all funky halfway through is because I started on my laptop and finished using my Samsung Galaxy 3.. Until I get a new laptop I'll be updating on my phone from now on so I apologize for any problems you might have reading this story.


	11. First Step is Denial

*If you want to see what Miku and her new outfit look like check out my Photobucket, it's also under "dbswldnjs" There should only be one photo, that's her!

* * *

"So... there's no hope is there?" Miku looked at her cousin with big, sad eye's. "Is it... gone?"

Her cousin raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid not.. There's no saving it."

Miku let out a sigh. She had expected this ever since they returned from the sugar factory. Her outfit was toast!

"We managed to get most of the blood out, however... your last few missions just destroyed what was left "

"I guess.. it's time to go shopping." Miku growled. "I hate clothes shopping.

This afternoon, Squad 7 was assigned an escort mission.

"To escort Nakago Mitsurugi to the town of Sunagakure." Naruton read off, excitement rising in his voice. "Oh boy a real mission!" He was growing tired of the usual D ranked missions they were being assigned, and he would rather eat nails than spend another day training. Sure he could beat Miku no sweat! Sasuke on the other hand...

"We don't need you Sasuke. Miku, you should stay behind too. All Kakashi-sensei needs is me!" he boasted, sticking his tongue out at his other team mates.

Miku was too busy readjusting her new outfit to pay attention and while Sasuke heard his little outburst, he simply chose to ignore him.

"If you're finished..." Kakashi-sensei sighed, rethinking his decision to bring his squad with him. He had the option to do this mission solo but chose to bring them along to help develop their teamwork was starting to think that more arguing than teamwork will be going on. "Let's go collect our escort and get this over with."

Miku's new outfit looked good on her Sasuke thought, watching her play with the sash. Her old white kimono got completely destroyed so she had to go purchase a new one. She wore a short sleeveless black kimono with pink trim and matching black gloves with no fingers. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail rather than a side braid and even he had to admit that she looked good.

'She's just a friend.' He told himself. 'There's nothing wrong with thinking your friend is attractive.

'I look ridiculous.' Miku groaned, re-tying her long, pink sash for the fifth time. 'I miss my old kimono...'

"Stop fidgeting you look fine." Sasuke said completely emotionless. "You're irritating me."

She pouted up at him. 'Your lack of emotion and bipolarism are irritating me ' she thought, hoping he could read her mind. His eyes narrowed into slits as if he had read her mind and the two stood motionless glaring daggers at one another.

'He's so.. attractive. No wonder so many girls like him.' She thought staring right into his beautiful black eyes. She could see he was hiding so much pain, so much sadness. His eyes told her he was lonely.

'Why is she looking at me like that?' He wondered, admiring the way her eyes glittered as she searched his own. It was as if she could see right through him. Sasuke usually doesn't let people see his true emotions, so he 's rather quick to put up barriers and block people out. However this time he just let her read him as if he were an open book.

"It looks like those two are having some sort of.. moment." Kakashi whispered to the blonde standing impatiently beside him. "Should we leave them or..."

"HEY ARE YOU GONNA KISS OR ARE YOU JUST GONNA STAND THERE GAWKING AT EACH OTHER?"I Naruto yelled interrupting his sensei. "I WANNA GET THIS MISSION STARTED ALREADY!"

"We were not gonna kiss!/Why would I kiss her?" They both yelled back.

* * *

"I said I was sorry." The Uchiha repeated. "Why are you so mad?"

"Typical male. Doesn't know anything." She said coldly, refusing to meet his gaze. "Don't you have some brooding to do?"

She had been giving him the cold shoulder since they left the village and he wasn't sure why. Was it something he said? He was about to ask when he noticed that they were now walking with a man he had never seen before. How long has he been here?

"If you're finished quarreling. " Kakashi-sensei began "This is Nakago, the man we will be escorting. "

This, Nakago person looked to be a few years older than they were, with long purple hair tied in a low ponytail. He wore a man's kimono that was open enough to expose his toned chest.

"Pleasure to meet you all." he spoke, his voice soft and kind. "Thank you for escorting me."

"I'm Kakashi Hatake, the blonde kid with the annoying grin on his face is Naruto Uzumaki, the boy with the permanent scowl is Sasuke Uchiha and the young lady who looks scares of everything is Miku Tatsuki." The Jounin introduced each of his squad members to Nakago. "Their names should be easy to remember. Just think of how I described them to you." he chuckled at his own personal joke.

"Pleased to meet you all." He said bowing to everyone. Although he was bowing to everyone, he couldn't take his eyes off of Miku.

"Miku is it? Ah! A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He shot her a smirk.

'Kissass...'Sasuke thought. They hadn't know each other five minutes and he already hated this Nakago guy, and it wasn't because he kept staring at Miku. 'I don't trust him.' He made a mental note to stick to Miku like glue for the remainder of the mission.

Only for security purposes however.

Suna was about 4 days away by foot, 5 days of you stop and take a few breaks. The five of them walked for 22 hours before stopping for the night.

"So.. why do you need an escort anyways? " Naruto asked with a mouthful of ramen.

"I am not a shinobi, and I was in a town close to Konoha visiting a friend. On my way there I was nearly killed by some ruthless and rather unpleasant shinobi so I decided that it was better to request some assistance for the walk back home." He explained. "And what a lovely group they've chosen for me!"

"You're weird but you gave me ramen so I like you." Naruto grinned shoving more face.

"I like you too. Lady Miku would you like some?" Nakago asked holding out a ramen cup.

She shook her head. "No..no thank you I don't feel very good." she replied with a small smile. She hadn't been feeling good since last night, probably a result of her frolicking in the lake in the middle of autumn with Naruto two days earlier. 'I guess it's my own fault if I come down sick.'

"Very well. Please feel better soon." He replied giving her another smirk. He was handsome, any girl between the ages of 12 and 18 could see that. However Miku didn't feel the least bit attracted to him. Not like she was to Sasuke. When he wasn't being a pessimistic ass he was rather sweet, in his own way and he was funny, unintentionally of course.

"Perhaps you need someone to sleep next to tonight, keep you warm and.. prevent you from getting any worse." Nakago said interrupting her thoughts about the Uchiha sitting beside her.

"I'm going to get fire wood. Lets go." Sasuke said suddenly, jumping to his feet and dragging Miku into the woods with him.

"Don't mind him." Naruto said when he saw the confused look on Nakago's face. "He's naturally an ass and just doesn't like it when people move in on his turf. "

"They... are together?" He asked in disbelief. "That delicate rose and that... obnoxious badger?"

"I've never heard anyone compare Sasuke to a badger before, I like to think of him as more of an angry cat. No they're not officially together but he likes her, he just doesn't know it yet." He explained not looking up from his food.

Nakago's face contorted into a look of pure evil. "I see..." he said in a voice that made Kakashi himself pry his nose out of his book. When he saw the look Nakago had on his face he began to wonder.

'Just who is this guy... Clearly he isn't telling us everything."

* * *

"Sasuke! Hey stop where are we.. where are we going?" She was trying her hardest to get him to let go of her but his grip was too strong. "Tell me what's going on?!" she screamed. This time he stopped.

"That guy... is just.."He growled, clenching the fist that wasn't locked onto Miku's arm.

"He was only being nice.. I think."

"Nice? Ever since we met up with him all he's been doing is in undressing you with his eyes it's sickening." He said through clenched teeth. "I want you to stay away from him."

Miku blinked. "Excuse me?" Was he.. caring? Does he even know how to care about people? 'But why would he care about me...?' she wondered. 'I'm nothing special.'

He turned to face her, and saw the confusion written all over her face.

'Why am I caring about her?' He asked himself, suddenly becoming just as confused as Miku was. "I've been doing a lot of thinking..." he started, suddenly feeling nervous. "... and... you.. you're my best friend." he said quickly. "So I feel obligated to look out for you." He felt both relieved and like somebody just roundhouse kicked him in the stomach.

"Really?" Miku couldn't believe her ears. She had never had a best friend before. Hell... she never had a friend before. "We're best friends?"

He nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed. "Don't make such a big deal about it." He said shoving his hands into his pocket, turning back into his usual self.

"Yes sir." She giggled walking up beside him. "I thought we were going to get firewood?"

"Hmph.. I don't know what you're talking about."

* * *

When they got back to the others, Naruto was bound and gagged and Kakashi was unconscious.

"What's going on?" Miku asked, stepping closer to Sasuke. Without thinking he put his arm around her protectively. "Where's Nakago?"

"I am right here do not worry." A voice called from the forest. "We were attacked suddenly, they told me to run."

He began tom walk towards them when Sasuke held out a kunai. "Tell me the truth." He demanded. "What really happened? "

Nakago looked surprised. "Whatever do you mean?"

"If you were attacked."Miku began. "Where did the attackers go? and how did they end up in their current states?"

Naruto began to roll towards them, mumbling something through his gag. Sasuke let go of her and rushed over to untie him only to be struck in the leg with a knife.

"Sasuke!" Miku started to run over but was stopped by a pair of strong arms.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He whispered in her ear."I don't want to harm you, m'Lady."

She shrugged him off, quickly backing up to create distance between the two of them. He had a sneer on his face that caused chills to shoot up her spine. This escalated quickly..

"Your sensei figured out the truth. It had to be done.." He explained. "You see.. I am a wanted murderer. That's what they label me as anyway, I think of myself as more of a.. garbage man cleaning up the filth in the streets. You know, cheating wife, misbehaving child. I just dealt with an unfair older brother before you guys came along."

"Then why did you ask for assistance?" She asked, taking a few steps back towards Sasuke. "Why did you need escorts?"

"Miku!" Sasuke called. She ignored him.

"Incase I was attacked." He chuckled. "I needed some.. protection. There are ANBU everywhere looking for me."

"Miku run!"

"Sorry but she can't run. If she tries..." His face contorted once again into a look of pure evil. "I will kill her. Now.. I still need an escort. Miku.. go collect your boyfriend. The others can stay here and rot."


	12. Nakago

_Amai mi wo hitotsu dake, yagate shinjitsu ga mieru.  
There is only one sweet truth, and then reality shows through._

_BUCK TICK - Gensou no Hana_

* * *

Miku was exhausted. Not only did she feel like someone beat her with a hammer, but her fever was creeping up on her real fast. On top of all that she was being forced to carry her 115 pound team mate.

"You don't have.. to carry me." He whispered in her ear. "I'm too heavy."

"I have to, you heard what he said." She whispered back. Their escort-turned-kidnapper was walking a few feet ahead of them, and they knew he could probably hear every word. Not like they cared.

"This all happened so fast." Miku said. " It hasn't even been a day and we're already screwed."

"I wonder what he's going to do.. ugh, when we reach Sunagakure." he winced. The knife wound in his leg was deeper than she though and Nakago forbid her from healing him. His blood was dripping down her arm, and even though it made her feel sick to her stomach she had no choice but to keep on going.

"I hope Kakashi-sensei wakes up soon. I'm scared Sasuke..." She whispered so low she barely heard herself. Sasuke heard however and a pang of guilt washed over him. He was supposed to protect her, he had just given her the "Bestfriends protect one a other speech." and then wham! He gets incapacitated, their team mates were left behind and now both him and Miku were being held hostage.

'I won't let him hurt her.' He told himself. 'You can't let her down.'

He could feel the heat coming off of her back, and her breathing had gotten a lot heavier since they left. She had said that she wasn't feeling well, and he had just assumed it was an excuse not to eat the food Nakago had offered her. Apparently she was being honest and now her condition was worsening.

'All because.. I couldn't protect everyone.'

* * *

"Naruto for once in your life listen to someone other than yourself!"

Naruto shut up instantly and stood alerted. Kakashi-sensei had woken and untied him just a few hours after Nakago marched off with the others. Kakashi-sensei had told him to run back to Konoha and alert the Hokage of their situation but of course Naruto being Naruto refused and declared that he was going to "Track that bastard down and tear him a new one."

Kakashi was already more made than a pack of hornets and Naruto's failure to listen made it worse.

"Run to Konoha as fast as you can and inform Lord Hokage... that our escort has turned on us and is holding Miku and Sasuke hostage. I'm gonna see if I can catch up to them.."

Naruto nodded and bolted back to Konoha as fast as his legs would take him. Kakashi turned on his heel and ran down the path that Naruto said the others took.

'How could I let this happen?'

After Sasuke and Miku had left earlier, Nakago started acting strange, making evil faces and mumbling to himself. When he had confronted him he was jabbed in the neck with a senbon coated in poison. It wasn't enough to kill him but it was enough to put him in a coma-like state for almost .

"Just wait till I get my hands on him.."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Sasuke yelled up ahead for the fifth time since they had left. "If you're taking us somewhere, at least tell us where we're going."

He turned to look over his shoulder. "Why to Suna, where else?"

"But why Suna?" Sasuke wondered, trying his hardest to keep up with them. He had wriggled off of Miku's back some time ago and was now having difficulties keeping pace because of his injured leg. It had clotted a while ago so the bleeding had stopped but it was still a very deep cut and was causing him a lot of pain.

Miku wasn't looking so hot either. Her cheeks were flush and she was breathing heavily.

"I'm a wanted murdered. I have, unfinished business with the Kazekage and well, I need you with me for protection, or if it comes to it as a bargain."

"Sasuke.." Miku croaked from beside him. "I don't.. I don't feel..."

She was struggling to catch her breath, and it was almost as if she would collapse at any moment.

'I've got to think of something..' Sasuke thought. 'and fast!'

"What's the hold-up back there?" Nakago yelled over his shoulder. "I'd hurry up if I were you."

He had no idea where they were anymore. He didn't recognize his surroundings and he hasn't seen any form of life in almost a mile. Nakago claims that he's taking them to Suna, however he might have an alterier motive..

"Hey Nakago!" Sasuke called out, stopping in his tracks. He raised out his arm to stop Miku as well, holding her in place. This was his first time putting an arm around a female before, and having her so close to him made him feel all warm inside.

"She really isn't feeling well." He continued, not waiting for a response. "Let her go. Take me instead, I won't put up a fight and I'll do everything you ask."

"Sasuke!" She protested, trying to wriggle out from under his arm. She wasn't strong enough, so after a few seconds she gave up. "I'm fine... I'm fine really. Don't go get yourself killed."

Nakago stared at them both for a few minutes, his eyes were burning into them as if he were trying to see through their flesh into their bodies. The way he was looking at Miku, was more intense than that, and it made Sasuke uneasy.

"I don't think so." He said before turning on his heels and continuing along the path. "Come along."

Sasuke glanced over at Miku. Her face was flushed and her eyes were clouded in tears. She was getting worse with each passing minute, and it was up to him to protect her.

Without thinking he grasped onto her arm and pulled her into a tight embrace. Her body was so warm, however she was still shaking as if she were freezing.

"I will protect you." He whispered into her ear. "I promise you."

Before she had a chance to reply he shoved her into the nearby bush and out of sight. Whether Nakago was aware or not didn't matter to Sasuke, he was not about to let anything happen to Miku.

"Fire Style! Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" He yelled, sending balls of blame towards the psychopath looming ahead of them. Nakago vanished just seconds before they made impact.

"Damn it!" He cursed, scouting the area. He spotted a flash of purple ahead of him but it was too late, Nakago's fist collided with the side of Sasuke's head sending him flying full force into a nearby tree.

"That was a bold move, Uchiha!" Nakago laughed. "You truly are a fool."

Sasuke pulled himself up, not bothering to wipe the dirt and blood off his face he charged full force towards him, his only thoughts were of Miku and getting her to safety.

Miku watched helplessly from between some leaves as Nakago landed punch after punch on her team mate. Sasuke managed to uppercut him once and kneed him in the stomach as well but Nakago was too fast. Sasuke may be a ninja, but Nakago seemed to be very skilled at dodging attacks and retaliating with his own.

She wanted to open her mouth, to say something, to pull herself up and help him fight, but her muscles were against her. Her body refused to move, all it wanted to do was lay there and rest.

She watched in horror as Nakago pulled out a rather large sized knife and began swinging it madly towards Sasuke's throat.

"You want to play do you?!" He screamed, slashing in Sasuke's direction. "Then let's play!"

He was completely mad.

"No, Sasuke no!" Miku propped herself up on her elbow, and began to crawl towards the fight when a hand reached out and stopped her. She looked up in alarm.

"Don't." A voice told her. "I'll protect Sasuke. Stay here and rest."

* * *

Sasuke was worn out. He had to use all his energy, and focus all his attention on dodging the jabs of his knife so he couldn't even attempt to strike a blow.

'I can't keep going on like this.' He thought, ducking to avoid a knife-wielding punch. 'What else can I do?'

His foot got tangled up in a nearby tree branch and he fell backwards towards the ground, just barely catching himself with his arm. A shadow loomed overtop and he turned his head to see a crazed Nakago grinning down at him.

"This is the end." He hissed through clenched teeth, raising his knife over his head. Before he could lower it however, Sasuke raised his foot and kicked him in the shins catching him off guard and knocking him over. As he was falling, Sasuke twisted around and grabbed onto his shirt, pulling him up and then quickly slamming him down hard onto the ground.

Nakago let out a painful cry, spitting up some blood all over his chin.

Sasuke jumped back a few feet, creating some distance between them.

'I have to think fast!' He thought, moving his hands as fast as they could go. "Clone Jutsu!"

Two dozen Sasuke's formed and began running around Nakago rapidly, the real Sasuke mixed in with the bunch, each one yelling. "Catch me if you can!"

Nakago scrambled to his feet, wide eyed and seemingly petrified as dozens of Sasuke's danced circles around him, taunting him. His eyes were darting back and forth, unsure as to which one was real and which one was mearly a figment of his imagination.

The real Sasuke was armed with kunai, and about to land a surprise blow when a chilling laugh rang through the air. Nakago stood in a circle of Sasuke's, laughing loudly, and shaking uncontrollably. The sight alone caused all who were watching to shiver.

"You want to play tag!?" He growled, his eyes were crazed. "Fine then! Let us play tag!"

He ran forward and began slashing wildly at all the clones, each one vaishing as the knife made contact. He wasn't just stabbing in random places however, he was going straight for the vital organs.

"Liver, heart, stomach, spleen, juggular, achilles tendon, lungs!" He chanted with each stab. He finally reached the real Sasuke, his life was ready to make impact. He was too fast, Sasuke watched, eyes full of fear as the knife went straight for his stomach.

Suddenly, Nakago went flying severl feet backwards, his knife slid off to the side.

Sasuke managed to hit the ground with his feet rather than with his face, and when he regained his balance he had a perfect view of a man's back, clad in blue and green.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He called out, relieved to see his sensei alive.

"Sorry I'm late." He said dully. "I got lost on the path of, you know what forget it, I've been following you for about an hour, waiting for the opportune moment to strike. You, Sasuke, have a nack for starting fights."

Sasuke smirked. "And you have a knack for being terrible with punctuality."

"Touche."

They watched as Nakago struggled to get to his feet, his leg had a huge scrape up the side and his kimono was torn all to shreds. Whatever Kakashi-sensei had hit him with sure did a number on him.

"So you brought back-up." He sneered. "Fine, have it your way."

Both shinobi from Konoha had expected him to charge at them once more, however he instead turned on his heel and fled into the brush behind them. Sasuke was determined not to let him get away and began to chase after him only to be stopped by Kakashi-sensei.

"Miku needs you." He said. "Go see if she's alright, I'll go after Nakago."

Sasuke nodded and turned towards the patch of blue hidden in the trees while his sensei gave chase to Nakago.

"Miku!" He called out as he leaped off the path and into the bush. She was curled up on the ground sleeping soundly, leaves, twigs and various other pieces of debris were imbedded in her hair. She was snoring softly.

He couldn't help but smile at her sleeping figure. Her face was still bright red and her breathing was heavy, but she wasn't shaking anymore and he was certain that was a good sign.

"How can one sleep at a time like this?" He chuckled, pulling her onto his lap. He originally planned on lifting her up and carrying her off to find their sensei, but instead he just held her their.

Her head was resting on his shoulder, and her legs were draped over his. She was so light, so thin and so fragile in appearance, but yet she had more determination and more inner strength than any other kunoichi he knew.

Sasuke reached up and began pulling the debris out of her curls.

"I should have been there for you." He whispered. "I made you a promise, I said that I would protect you, and we ended up kidnapped while you fell ill."

He knew she couldn't hear him but he still felt better talking to her.

"I'll never let anything happen to you again, I'll make sure of it." He whispered to her sleeping form, gently lifting her up into his arms.

He felt differently towards Miku than most girls. She made him want to smile more, and he atually admired how hard she tried during fights and during training. She wasn't annoying like most the Konoha kunoichi, and he could actually tolerate a conversation with her.

Come to think of it, she was the first person he ever called a friend.

She was his first best friend.

Yeah, that's all she was. Just his best friend.

"That's all she is." He muttered to himself. "I do not like her like that, I can't risk liking anybody like that."

He could see his sensei calmly walking towards him in the distance, one hand shoved into his pockets, the other holding up his pornography.

"I can't risk liking Miku like that." He muttered, glancing down at the sleeping girl laying in his arms. As soon as he took a look at her face a serge of emotion flooded through him and a knot formed in his stomach.

"I think I already like Miku like that."

* * *

**PREVIEW FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER**

"As you can see, I'm back and I've brought reinforcements." Nakago grinned, his knife clutched in one hand, a severed human head in the other.

"Sasuke... What are, what are you doing?" Mike felt her breath catch in her throat as Sasuke closed the distance between them.

The knife went in further, causing him to let out a loud cry that brought tears to Miku's eyes. He was dying, and it was her fault.

Sasuke held her closer to him, as much as he hated to admit it, he loved every minute that he spent with her.

Naruto's eyes were bright red, his chakra was out of control and all his team could do was sit back and watch as he ripped him to shreds.

"I don't know if I could ever be with Sasuke." She whispered to herself, tears falling uncontrollably down her face. It made her heart hurt just thinking about it, but it was the truth. The two of them, can never be.

* * *

***I am so so so sorry for how late this update was.**

**I had a serious case of writers block.**

**And then the cat that I had my whole life got sick and died, and then my co-worker died, and then I almost cut off my thumb with a knife and had stitches and gauze on my thumb making it impossible or me to type.**

**Anyways...**

**I'm back! The next chapter will be out tonight or tomorrow, I PROMISE!**

**On a side note, I have two possible endings for this story and I want your vote.**

**Would you prefer:**

**A TRAGIC ENDING**

**or**

**A ROMANTIC ENDING.**

**Both endings have good results in my opinion, but I just want to know what the readers prefer. Please PM me your answers or leave them in the reviews section.**

**Also, I'm going to bring in Orochimaru, just for some drama, and there may or may not be the Chunin exams. (It's highly unlikely, I want to keep this as far from the original series plotline as possible.**

** I want to know, ****Should Sasuke**

**STAY IN KONOHA WITH MIKU**

**or**

**LEAVE THE VILLAGE AS HE DOES IN THE NARUTO SERIES.**

**One last thing, if anybody has some nice Japanese, Korean or even English songs they want me to use as headers for my chapters please PM me the name of the song and the artist and I'll be sure to use it.**

**THANKS FOR READING!**

**LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK,**


	13. Blood, Tears and Feelings

_Hanarete mo onaji iro ni yasashiku mazari au. Hora yori sou kizuna._  
_Even if we're apart we're blended with the same colours. We have a great bond._

ORANGE RANGE - Kizuna

* * *

It took a long time before they met up with Naruto.

He never made it back to Konoha, half way there he decided to turn around and come back because he couldn't leave his team behind.

At first Kakashi-sensei was very angry, and even contemplated hurting Naruto, but after a while he calmed down and was actually grateful that he wasn't the time to abandon his comrades.

"It's getting dark." Miku whispered. She hugged her knees tight to her chest. She didn't want to admit it, but she was scared. She was scared that Nakago would return, and that she wouldn't be able to do anything to help he comrades.

Sasuke knew. He could tell she was scared by the way she kept surveying the area, and how every time a bird chirped or a twig snapped she flinched and swung her head in that direction, one hand on her weapons pouch, the other clutched to her chest.

He didn't want to confront her about it, or embarrass her in front of the others, so he made sure to sit close to her so she wouldn't be as frightened.

Miku enjoyed being so close to Sasuke. She had dozed off as soon as Kakashi and Sasuke scared Nakago away, and was jolted awake by Sasuke carrying her. She could hear him talking to himself, but she couldn't clearly hear what he was saying because of the crunch of gravel beneath his feet and the sound of her chest trying to suck in air.

She kept her eyes closed the entire time and pretended to be asleep, enjoying every moment with him. He was so warm, and she was so cold. His gentle heart beat made her feel very sleepy, but she forced herself to stay awake in case she began to snore loudly in his arms.

She was already snoring lightly now as a result of a stuffed nose, but that just fooled the others into thinking she was still asleep.

He had been glued to her hip since Nakago had fled. He walked very close to her, and was now sitting directly beside her so their arms were touching.

She hated to admit it, but she was slowly beginning to fall for the young Uchiha sitting so close to her, and she couldn't help herself. It was just something about him, it wasn't his looks or his skills that attracted her to him.

She doesn't know why she likes him, but one things for sure.

She likes him a lot.

"Are you alright?" A voice spoke up. "Are you not feeling well?"

She looked up into the coal-black eyes of her crush, they were full of genuine concern for her.

That was on reason why she liked him: He cared about her.

"I'm fine." She lied. "I'm just sleepy, and a bit cold."

She was also hungry, thirst, exhausted, scared, paranoid and very attracted to him but she kept those to herself.

Sasuke knew Miku was hiding something from him. There were many things she wanted to tell him, he could see it in her eyes, but she was keeping it in.

Her stomach was making noises a few minutes ago, when she was spaced out and deep in thought, so he suspected that she was famished but just didn't want to bother anybody.

Naruto and Kakashi-sensei had went off in search for food, and were just returning, both with huge grins plastered on their faces.

"Fish!" Naruto yelled a little too loud for comfort. "We caught fish!"

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Actually, I caught the fish while you attempted to catch fish but ended up face first in the water."

Naruto let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Yeah, right."

"Sasuke, be a dear and light us a fire would you?" Kakashi grinned through his mask. "We have a sick kunoichi who needs nourishment."

* * *

"Is that them?" A tall man with chalk white hair asked. "They don't look tough, you really lose to them Nakago?"

Nakago growled under his breath. "I didn't lose, I just needed help. Your father owes me still, remember?"

The female of the group approached him. She was no taller than his forehead but she was still rather intimidating, even to a psycho like him.

"Yeah, our father owes you a favour, and that's why we're stuck out here hunting shinobi because you're too useless to do it yourself." She spat. "Just be thankful he decided to send Takashi instead of Gaara, or you would be just as dead as they are about to be."

Nakago cringed. The Kazekage's youngest son was only 12, but he was twisted enough to make even Nakago fear for his life. "It took a lot of persuasion and bribing, but it needed to be done. That brother of yours always eyes me as if he wants to skin me alive and devour me and it makes me very uncomfortable."

"He probably does want to eat you." A man dressed in black laughed, pulling his faithful companion and secret weapon off of his back. "So, when do we strike?"

* * *

Kakashi had successfully caught 12 fish.

Sasuke had three while Miku surprisingly devoured four of them all to herself. Naruto complained that his three weren't enough for him but Kakashi practically strangled him because he was only left with two for himself.

Thankfully Naruto had some instant ramen and nori papers in his backpack so they all ate until they were full.

After she ate, Miku felt so sleepy that she began to doze off while sitting upright and eventually found herself leaning against Sasuke. She knew that she should remove herself from him and apologize, but she was so tired and her body refused to more so all she did was fall deeper into sleep.

Team 7 was very confused at their team mates behaviour. Naruto has been watching Sasuke and Miku act all, creepy towards one another all week and Kakashi was interested in their sudden changes in attitude towards one another.

'Perhaps she can help set him on a different course.' He wondered to himself. Kakashi, as well as every other jounin as well as the Hokage himself had the suspicions that his quest for vengeance will eventually lead Sasuke on a very dark path, one that could possibly cause him to completely lose himself in the process. Seeing Miku and him together like this was sparking some hope in him.

A hope that Miku would be able to change Sasuke Uchiha for the good.

He could sense some movement behind him, but rather than act on it he remained calm and continued reading his book.

His eyes may be seeing the pages of the book but his mind and his focus was back.

He knew that they were hiding, just waiting to strike, and he knew that they outnumbered his squad by at least one, but what he didn't know was how long he could sit there and act as if nothing was going on.

How long could he sit there and wait for them to make a move?

Miku's eyes shot open, startling the poor Uchiha who was staring at her sleeping face.

"Someone's here." She whispered, pulling herself off of Sasuke. "They're watching us."

"I knew they'd be back." Sasuke growled, activating his Sharingan. He could clearly see two of them crouching behind Kakashi, but he swore that he sensed four people? Where did the other two go?

"Act normal." Kakashi whispered very silently, staring directly at Naruto as he spoke.

The blonde clad in orange was about to leap into action and start busting some heads, until his sensei whispered him a warning and now his spirits were crushed.

'I was about to unleash some awesome ninja moves on him too...' He thought sadly, poking around in the dirt with a stick.

The twigs all around them began snapping at random intervals, and the wind suddenly picked up rather heavily. A large black figure began soaring above the trees, heading straight for them.

"Looks like the came to us." Sasuke grinned, ready for a fight. He may have let Nakago escape last time, but this time nothing was going to stop him from taking Nakago down.

On cue he emerged from the brush behind their sensei, a man with white hair dressed in an equally white kimono was walking beside him.

"As you can see, I'm back and I've brought reinforcements." Nakago grinned, his knife clutched in one hand, a severed human head in the other. The human head belonged to a male shinobi, and judging by the insignia on his forehead protector he belonged to the leaf village.

"That poor man..." Naruto clenched his fist. "What did he ever do to you?!"

"Easy." A female voice came from the other side of them. "He approached us with too many questions. We just wanted to shut him up."

The female was very tall, and had blonde hair tied in four spiky pigtails. Her outfit was a purple kimono-styled dress with fish net underneath. On her back was a giant fan.

"Nakago chose the messy method of shutting him up though." A man said, walking up beside the female. The man was dressed in all black from head to toe with a hood and purple face paint. He had some, ugly abomination strapped into his back and whatever it was it was wrapped in bandages.

"So, shall we begin?" The female smirked, pulling out her fan.

Squad 7 braced themselves for a very difficult fight. Before anyone could even think of making a move, Sasuke charged straight for Nakago, knocking away the man in white and striking kunai against knife.

"It seems he's chosen his target. Now It's time to choose mine!" The man in black said, pulling the bandage-wrapped object off of his back. "Come at me, if you dare."

"I'll take you on, you're gonna regret messing with me!" Naruto yelled, running full charge towards the man in black.

The female stepped towards Miku, "That just leaves you and me doesn't it, short stuff."

Miku looked at her sensei, who was now in a full-blown fist-fight with the man with white hair.

"Don't worry, I'll try to make your death as painless as possible.

* * *

Sasuke tried to keep up with Nakago, but just like last time he was fast.

However, unlike last time Sasuke managed to dodge every blow he threw his way, all while landing a few good ones of his own.

"You're still too slow Uchiha!" Nakago taunted, ducking one of Sasuke's punches and attempting to cut his skin with the blade of his knife. Sasuke saw it coming and managed to maneuver out of the way.

Thanks to his Sharingan, he could now predict all of Nakago's moves before they made impact.

"You and your damn bloodline!" He cursed, sliding under Sasuke's legs and causing him to fall forward. He managed to catch himself before he hit the ground and flipped back up to his feet.

"I don't know why I didn't use it the last time we fought, I could have taken you out right then and there."

Nakago grinned. "Or, perhaps you were too arrogant the last time we saw one another, and you know that you don't stand a chance against me without it. Let's face it you're the runt of the litter, the weakest Uchiha in existence!"

His words caused Sasuke's blood to boil. How dare he make accusations like that?

Sasuke Uchiha graduated at the top of his class! He was greater than the other Konoha genin, he was a skilled shinobi while he was nothing more than a civilian serial killer, and yet this man has the nerve to talk trash about him and his clan?

"I'll show you!" He screamed, punching Nakago in the jaw. While his fist made impact with his face, Nakago's knife mad impact with Sasuke's arm, cutting him just above the elbow.

He staggered back with a yell, clutching his bleeding arm. It wasn't a deep gash, but it was enough to cause him great amounts of pain.

"Now, I like it better when you're angry. Come at me like you mean it Uchiha!" Nakago yelled, his arms stretched out. "Come at me like you want to kill me!"

* * *

"Is that all you can do?" The man in black laughed, taking out another one of Naruto's shadow clones.

Naruto was out of breath, and out of chakra. This guy just didn't want to fall!

"Damn you!" He yelled, falling backwards onto his behind. "Why don't you... Why don't you lose any power? Why aren't you tired? Why are you..."

He couldn't even finish his sentence. His lungs were burning, greedily sucking in all air possible while this guy just stood there completely un-phased.

"You Konoha genin are all pathetic." The man in black laughed. "You're no matched for Sunagakure."

Naruto clenched his fists. "Oh yeah? Just watch me! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

On cue, a dozen Naruto's sprung forth and leaped into action. This was the same move he has been using since their battle began and the man in black was growing annoyed with the same tactic used over and over.

"Is this really all you know, gee this is sad I'm not even gonna try to put up a fight." He laughed, taking out two clones with some kunai. "Come at me, you pathetic human being!"

"With pleasure!" The real Naruto yelled from underground, bursting through the dirt and sending the man in black flying up into the sky. One of the Naruto clones appeared in front of him and round-house kicked him in the stomach sending him hurdling towards the ground once more.

He his the ground with a sickening thud and let out a cry that sounded anything but human. That should have broken some bones.

"Ha! Take that! Never, ever under-estimate Naruto Uzumaki, believe it!"

The man in black began to laugh, and pulled himself to his feet. He moved with complete confidence, it was as if he wasn't even phased by the fall or the blow to his stomach.

"What.. what are you?" Naruto gasped, for once he was completely out of ideas.

"Son I'm the farthest thing from human there is." The man in black laughed, walking towards Naruto. "Now, you're about to witness my real power."

* * *

Miku didn't know how much longer she could run for. Her lungs felt as though they were on fire, and she felt weaker than ever.

Her fever had returned, and it was difficult to concentrate on the battle.

"Stop running, coward!" The female yelled, sending yet another gust of wind towards Miku. This time it was overpowering and sent her flying through the air, landing on the dirt harshly.

'I can't fight.' She thought, pulling herself up. 'But I have to try, I can't run anymore.'

"Are you going to fight me or are you going to run away?" The female taunted, leaning on her fan.

'I have to try!'

She could see that there was a stream nearby, as well as a lot of trees and some rocks but those could do her no good. All she really knows is fire jutsu and wind jutsu, and both would prove useless against her and her fan.

"Earth Style! Terra Tremor jutsu!" She yelled, sending her hands straight towards the ground with as much force and chakra as she could manage.

Shockwaves surged through the Earth causing an earthquake of sorts directly towards the female who did nothing more than smirk.

Within seconds she was up on her fan, soaring through the air completely untouched.

"Is that the best you got? No wonder you ran!" She taunted, whipping her fan out from beneath her and floating gently towards the ground.

Miku began running in a random direction, trying to create distance between them. The female was not about to let her get away however, and readied her fan.

"Oh no you don't! Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

Miku found herself once again flying through the air uncontrollably, but rather than make contact with the ground she landed in the stream and soon found herself laying on the bottom of the river.

The water was rushing by at a fast pace, and as it flowed over her body it relaxed her muscles, and made her feel at ease.

'This feels nice.' She thought, letting the current roll over her body. 'I should just lay here forever.'

She knew that as soon as she emerged from the water she would just get beaten again. There was no point in leaving, she would just stay here until her lungs couldn't handle it anymore and either float to the surface to await her demise or just die here.

_"I made you a promise, I said that I would protect you.."_

She opened her eyes. At first it stung, and felt very uncomfortable but eventually they adjusted and she could see the blurred image of the sky above her.

_"I'll never let anything happen to you again, I'll make sure of it."_

'Sasuke?' She was hearing Sasuke's voice in her head, speaking to her. But how was it that he was communicating with her through her head?

No, this wasn't him speaking to her just now.

These were more like memories.

_"I've been doing a lot of thinking...and... you.. you're my best friend. So I feel obligated to look out for you."_

'That's right, Sasuke and I, were...'

Her lungs felt as though they were about to burst any moment now, they were screaming for oxygen.

The purple and blonde figure of the female appeared overhead, sneering down at her from the waters surface. Just the mere sight of her face made Miku very unhappy.

Almost, angry.

'I can't give up.' She told herself, remembering how close her and Sasuke had been lately, and how he's looking out for her. 'I can't let him down.'

The image of Naruto and Kakashi-sensei fighting for their lives against their own enemies flashed before her mind.

'I've got to fight!'

Before she knew it, all the water around her shot straight up, and she found herself laying on the ground sucking in all available oxygen.

The female flew through the air and collided with a tree, knocking the wind out of her. Her clothes were soaked, and her lungs couldn't get enough air into them and she began to panic.

'What just happened?' She wondered, pulling herself up off the ground. 'Where did that come from.'

Up ahead, where the rushing stream used to be stood the weakling with the curly blue hair. She stood straight up, her hair was stuck to her face and her clothes were water logged, and the look in her eyes...

She was staring straight at her with a look in her eyes.

She was pissed off, completely mad and ready to fight.

"Well Temari, it looks like you're about to get the fight you've been waiting for." She smirked, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

* * *

A large booming sound echoed throughout the air, followed by a high-pitched scream.

'Miku! Damn-it!' Sasuke mentally cursed. How could he just leave her to fight on her own in her condition?

"Pay attention Uchiha!" Nakago spat, pulling himself up. "You...your fight is right here."

Nakago was covered in his own blood and dirt, and he was completely exhausted. There was no fight left in him.

Physically anyways.

Sasuke has put quite the beating into him, and he isn't even much of a challenge for him anymore.

Without even so much as a second thought, he turned away from Nakago and ran towards the direction of the sound.

His friend was more important than this piece of trash.

It didn't take him long to find them, and when he did he was surprised by what he saw.

Miku and her opponent were hugging one another.

What on Earth was going on?

**_10 minutes earlier..._**

_Temari had lost her fan and Miku, now fueled by anger, was keeping pace with her and they were now evenly matched._

_Temari landed a blow to Miku's face, and she returned one to her stomach. Temari grazed her arm with a kunai and Miku hit her in the leg with her own._

_The two kunochi were neck in neck, and were both growing very tired._

_"Ugh, why don't you just die?!" Temari yelled, trying to slide her legs underneath of Miku and take her down. Miku saw it coming and managed to dodge her attack, only to get her legs tangled in Temari's and come crashing down on top of her._

_Miku was now straddling Temari, who was sprawled on the ground gasping for air._

_Both girls were out of breath._

_"You... you are actually alright... an alright shinobi." Temari laughed, wiping the sweat and dirt off of her forehead with the back of her sleeve._

_Miku laughed, feeling just slightly less angry than she had just moments earlier. "You too... Sand Ninja."_

_"I'm calling it truce." Temari said. "I'm only in this cause my, my father owed Nakago a favour. I think your friend is out for Nakago's blood so, so I think my brother and I are done here."_

_Miku got up off of Temari and offered her her hand. "Alright. Sounds alright to me."_

_Temari accepted her hand and Miku nearly pulled a muscle trying to hoist her new sort-of friend up to her feet, but she managed in the end without looking like too much of a fool._

_"I'm so tired." Miku confessed, trying to catch her breath. "I can't feel my face."_

_"I can't feel my stomach." Temari laughed, reaching out and pulling Miku into a hug. "You're okay in my books. I can't stand a weakling but you, you're alright, once you get the right motivation."_

**_Present time..._**

"Miku!" Sasuke called out, jogging over to his friend. He wanted to see why she was now locked in a tight embrace with the girl who was trying to kill her just moments earlier.

"Hey, Sasuke." She breathed, turning to face him. Her hair was flat, and covered in dirt. It was also soaked, and stuck all over her face. Her kimono was dirty, soaked and torn at the hem and her face was swollen on one side.

"What happened?" He asked, eyeing Temari.

"Oh, we fought, but now we're okay." She breathed, pulling some of her hair off her face. "What happened to Nakago?"

"I left him hanging. He was just about done anyway." Sasuke smirked, peeling the rest of her wet curls off of her forehead. "Looks like she did quite the number on your face."

They both heard a chuckle from behind them. "You think that's bad, I think she ruptured my spleen." Temari laughed, hoisting up her fan. "'I'm headed back to Suna. I'll go save your friend from my brother, so don't worry about him." She said, giving them a half-smile before flying off towards Naruto.

"She's alright." Miku smiled, ignoring the throbbing pain in her cheek. "I like her."

Her cheek was so swollen, and it made him feel guilty.

He should have been there for her.

"Does your face hurt? Are you okay?" He asked, taking her face gingerly in his hands and moving it side to side, inspecting the damage. "I should have been here for you..."

Miku saw the hurt in Sasuke's eyes and it made her feel guilty. She was guilty that he was always beating himself up over her stupid mistakes, and it made her feel even more guilty to know that he was always the one having to protect her, while she did nothing more than run away with her tail between her legs.

"It's alright." She told him, forcing a smile on her face. "Really, I'm alright."

Sasuke's eyes were filled with regret. She could see that he was hurting inside, but it was over a lot more than just her fight with Temari.

"I wasn't there to protect you." He said. "I wasn't strong enough to stop you from getting hurt."

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his stomach, her head resting against his collarbone.

"Sasuke, you can't always be there to protect me. There will be times when we have to go our separate ways and fight our separate battles." She told him, feeling his arms slide around her waist without hesitation. "You will always be there for me, and I will always be there for you, but you don't have to protect me. I don't want you to, I need to learn how to be strong on my own. I need to learn how to fight my own battles."

Sasuke couldn't help but smile. She was right, she was so right. He couldn't keep protecting her as much as he wanted to, she needed to learn how to fight her own battles. He would have to learn how to stand back and let her do things on her own.

Sasuke held her closer to him, as much as he hated to admit it, he loved every minute that he spent with her. Even though she was injured and he was covered in sweat and dirt he was happy for the moment they were having together.

'Is it okay for me to like her?' He asked himself, his heart beating wildly in his chest. 'Can I do that?'

He pulled back from the embrace, just enough so he could stare into her eyes but still hold onto her. He found himself leaning towards her, and even though his mind was telling him to stop, his body kept going.

"Sasuke... What are, what are you doing?" Mike felt her breath catch in her throat as Sasuke closed the distance between them. Her face was burning, and she was sure it wasn't because of her fever, and she could feel his breath on her lips.

They were so close, was he really about to kiss her?

* * *

Naruto was done.

He as so done. There was nothing more he could do.

This guy, was just too much for him.

Kakashi-sensei was having difficulties keeping up as well.

_Some strange lady with blonde pigtails floated down from the air on a fan._

_"Kankuro! We're done here. Nakago's as good as dead." She shouted._

_The man in the black, whose name was Kankuro, grinned from ear to ear. "Finally! Sorry for the bruises, and the cuts and that punch to the groin. It was fun, catch you later kiddo!" He yelled, hoisting up the strange bandage-wrapped thing onto his back and leaping onto the fan with his sister._

_They rode off into the sunset on a giant fan leaving Naruto baffled and confused._

_Then he heard his sensei cry out in pain._

Kakashi-sensei was neck-in neck with this guy dressed in white. Whoever he was, he was tough and even a jounin like Kakashi was having difficulties fighting him off.

"You are wasting your time." He shouted, dragging his katana behind him in the soil. "Had enough yet?"

'This guy, is something.' Kakashi thought, studying him carefully with his one Sharingan eye.

He has tried every jutsu he knows and this guy seems to be immune to them all. He is very skilled with a sword as well, and his speed is almost equal to that of his own.

"There's a reason why Nakago hired me." He told him. "I'm one of the best assassins from Sungakure. And I can not be stopped."

"Where are Sasuke and Miku at a time like this?" Naruto wondered out loud, pulling himself into a standing position. This guy, was tough, but there was something not quite right about him.

His chakra, there was no feel to it, it was almost as if he had none.

"Is he even human?"

"Naruto." Kakashi's voice broke his train of thought. "Go find the others, I'll take care of him." He said, clutching his wrist with his opposite hand.

"It ends here!" He yelled, his hand suddenly igniting with chakra so strong it was visible.

"What.. what is that?" Naruto couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at his sensei's incredible strength. "Sensei..."

"It ends here! Chidori!" Kakashi yelled, rushing straight for their opponent, who stood there as calm as if nothing happened. When Kakashi's hand made impact with his body, they had both expected a large amount of screaming, blood followed by death, however nothing happened.

He just, vanished with a poof.

"A shadow clone?!" Kakashi was shocked, stunned. All that chakra, the last of his strength, all for nothing.

Naruto watched as his sensei stood there in complete shock, his hand still extended, his eyes wide and confused.

He also saw the man in white in the bush behind his sensei, a katana raised and about to strike.

'He was using a shadow clone, while the real him was hiding?!' He thought, rushing towards his sensei. He had to stop him, he had to save his sensei!

"Kakashi-sensei!"

But he was too late.

The katana made impact, and his sensei fell limp.

* * *

When Miku and Sasuke arrived at the scene they were speechless.

There, lay their sensei in a pile of his own blood, a katana through the chest.

Naruto slumped over his body, wailing as loudly as his lungs would let him.

The man in the white stood off to the side with a smug look on his face.

It was almost impossible to believe.

However, before either one of them could react, a strong force prevented them from moving.

Naruto was glowing red, his chakra was visible and it was angry.

Naruto was angry.

"Sasuke, what is happening?" She asked, tears streaming down her face. "Kakashi-sensei, is he..."

Sasuke couldn't answer.

He wasn't even aware that she had spoken, he didn't feel her hand clutching onto his, nor did he feel her face pressed up against his shoulder.

All he was aware of was his sensei's lifeless body, and Naruto.

Naruto was screaming, no, more like growling. The heat, and the power resonating off of him was almost unbearable.

He turned to look at the man in white, his fangs bearing and his eyes stained red and filled with blood lust.

"You killed my sensei!" He snarled. "I'll kill you!"

And then he lunged.

The man in white tried to dodge it but he was too slow, and Naruto grabbed ahold of his leg and pulled him down onto the ground with a thud.

Naruto's eyes were bright red, his chakra was out of control and all his team could do was sit back and watch as he ripped him to shreds.

Miku couldn't believe what she was seeing, and as much as she wanted to hide away in Sasuke's arm, she knew that he was in shock and completely unaware of her touch, and she knew that her sensei needed her.

He was still alive, but barely.

She knew it.

She rushed over to his side, and found the katana protruding from his chest. With a firm grip and a face full of tears she gave a swift tug, causing her sensei to cry out in pain.

"I'm sorry sense!" She sobbed, giving it another tug and finally pulling it free from his body.

"Kyumeigan!" She activated her kekkei genkai and set to work mending his wounds, using every last inch of chakra her body contained.

"Heh." Kakashi-sensei coughed. "My hunch was correct. You do possess it.."

She let out a small chuckle. "Yeah... Sorry sensei, I should have told you sooner."

"Let's just keep it between us." He said, forcing a smile through his mask. Even in the state he was in, he had to remain positive for the sake of his team, even though he was in complete agony and just seconds ago was on the verge of death.

"I'll fix you up in no time sensei, you'll see." She smiled through the tears.

She managed to heal Kakashi's wounds, but at the cost of all her strength and chakra. Sasuke managed to subdue Naruto by knocking him unconscious, and then proceeded to burn the mutilated body of the man in white before any innocent travelers passed by and saw the horrific sight.

Kakashi-sensei was as good as new, almost, and happily threw Naruto over his shoulder and insisted on carrying him home.

"You two need all the rest you can get." Was his reasoning, and neither one of them wanted to argue.

All three of the leaf shinobi started their journey back home, not wanting to waste anymore time and wanting nothing more than to get home and relax.

Miku found Nakago's knife laying on the ground not far from where Naruto was, and decided to bring it along with her. She knew that Sasuke had let him go and the last thing she wanted was for him to get ahold of this again.

Even though Temari and her brother were back in Suna, and the man in white was as good as dead, she still couldn't help but feel very uneasy, like something was about to go very wrong.

The bushes were making a variety of snapping and crackling noises, but she was the only one who seemed to notice.

'Maybe it's just my imagination..' She thought. 'I worry too much.'

But little did she know it was more than just her imagination, it was Nakago.

He burst from the trees with a crazed look in his eyes, a kunai clutched tightly in his hands.

"DIE UCHIHA!" He yelled, headed straight for an unsuspecting Sasuke.

Before she knew what she was doing, Miku lunged at Nakago to prevent him from reaching Sasuke, forgetting about the knife in her hand and stabbed him right in the stomach.

He let out a gasp and then spit out blood, before collapsing on top of her.

The knife went in further, causing him to let out a loud cry that brought tears to Miku's eyes. He was dying, and it was her fault.

Quickly releasing the grip she had on the knife, Nakago's lifeless body fell to the ground.

She had killed him.

She... killed a man.

Burying her face in her hands she fell to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.

"I killed him, I killed him." She sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I killed him."

A strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around her, and she fell into them and continued to cry her eyes out.

* * *

When they returned to Konoha, they reported everything that happened to the Hokage, and then went their separate ways.

Naruto went straight home, ate all the food in his fridge and then passed out.

Kakashi went straight to his apartment and went straight to bed, not even changing out of his bloody, dirty uniform.

Sasuke had carried Miku the rest of the way to Konoha, and then walked her home, making sure she was okay before parting to go to his house.

When she got inside she grabbed her toiletries and went straight for the bath house, soaking for an extra long time before washing herself, three times, and then going home.

She changed into a very light, cotton kimono that was a very pale violet in colour, and tied her wet hair up on top of her head, held place with a clip.

Ayu was away at Neji's for some strange reason, so she had the house to herself.

_"Sasuke... What are, what are you doing?" Mike felt her breath catch in her throat as Sasuke closed the distance between them. Her face was burning, and she was sure it wasn't because of her fever, and she could feel his breath on her lips._

_They were so close, was he really about to kiss her?_

_His lips were just millimeters away from her, and she could feel them lightly brush against hers before they heard a very loud scream, startling the both of them and bringing them back to their senses._

Miku brought her fingers up and touched her lips.

"They did touch, only briefly but..." She felt a great sadness wash over her. Sasuke has been acting strange lately, and she was starting to think she knew why.

"Does he like me?" She wondered. "I should be happy but..."

His goal in life is revenge, to avenge his clan, to obtain power and kill somebody.

She could never be with somebody like that, there's no way. She had killed someone today, with her own hands, and she feels so dirty because of it.

Sasuke wants nothing more than to kill a certain someone...

He might leave her someday.

He might leave her for power, or for revenge, or just leave her.

He could go away, far away, and she would never see him again.

It might happen.

So that's why she can never be with him, they're too different, it would never work.

"I don't know if I could ever be with Sasuke." She whispered to herself, tears falling uncontrollably down her face. It made her heart hurt just thinking about it, but it was the truth. The two of them, can never be. "I love him but, I can never be with him."

* * *

When Sasuke arrived home, he headed straight for his private bath and after washing himself extremely well, he changed into a pair of sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt.

"What a messed up few days.." He sighed, throwing himself onto his bed.

Every time he closed he eyes, a certain blue-haired kunoichi seeped into his mind.

He saw her struggling to keep up with him when Nakago had then hostage, and then pictures her sleeping form laying in his arms.

He saw the look on her face and the slight blush on her cheeks when he almost kissed her, and then saw the image of her falling to her knees in tears over killing Nakago.

His heart hurt for her, he hated to see her so upset.

He had never killed anybody before, so he has no idea how she feels.

"Do I like Miku?" He asked his ceiling. "What am I going through?"

He has been very touchy with her lately, and he longs to be close to her, he longs to hold her and he hates to see her upset.

"I like Miku." He admitted. "But how did this happen..."

He thought back to when they first met, how timid and shy she was.

Now, she's always smiling. She's always, happy.

She doesn't treat him like the other females do, she treats him like a human being and not some piece of eye-candy.

She makes him feel, human.

"What am I going to do? Does she even like me?" He wondered out loud, turning towards the family portrait on his bed-side table. "What have you gotten yourself into, Uchiha?"

* * *

***I AM SO SORRY THIS CHAPTER IS SO LONG!**

**And I apologize for, everything that happened in this chapter. A lot of stuff went down...**

**I just kept writing and writing and writing, and eventually realised that I needed to wrap it up!**

**I feel as though I needed to make up for lost time, so here we go!**

**LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! And don't forget about the questions from the last chapter!**


End file.
